Hello third gen enthusiasts,
So here's the deal, this morning on my drive, the fuel gauge was working just fine, bouncing around a bit as I drive but it has always done that. Anyway, later in the day, I saw that my fuel was running low so I went to the pump, filled it up and then after filling it up saw that my gauge was exactly where it was before fueling it.

I have searched the site for a while but mostly only find those whose fuel gauge is stuck on full, never in a random area or 1/8 of a tank such as mine was.
Any help is appreciated!

Thanks
David

 

When I was researching a while back, I have found an issue with contaminants building up on the fuel level sensor along with additives used to "clean" that out. Of course there are a bunch of products claiming similar things but if you search long enough you should run into 4-5 forums with people recommending mostly the same products on a regular basis. It may also take a few bottles to clear it up. otherwise you can remove the sending unit and try cleaning it manually or replacing the unit.
From a quick search it was build up of sulfur on the sensor in the tank which supposedly occurred mostly in the 1990's or affected cars from those years and earlier. other claims say that the sulfer deteriorated the contact and cleaner won't help.
Chevron Tecron Fuel Cleaner, STP cleaner, Gumout Regane, or Redline SI-1 are some of the suggestions but you want to make sure these won't do more harm than good.

Could be the gauge as well and for that you could try using a meter and/or grounding one of the leads and it's supposed to go to full or empty (I forget which and it sounds like you already found those threads).
The level sensor is basically a resistor and you could try measuring the resistance on that end to see if that is within range.

Examples and where I found some of the info.
http://www.cartruckinfo.com/erratic-fuel-gauge.html
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=2381779

 

Well as a small update, after I was driving around I noticed it was bouncing all over the place, but it seems to be working again I would see it fly up to full then back down, it has now stabilized to what I believe is the correct spot

My guess is that the float hasnt been that low for a while so it got stuck, Thanks for the help Scorpner I might try to clean it as well if it happens again, but for now I wont mess with it

 

Good deal and you're welcome! Yep, if it's working I'd leave it as well.