I have had a problem with a non functional fuel gauge in my 82 crossfire injected trans am for a while now, I noticed before that if I keep the float all the way to the bottom of it's travel the gauge will read 1/4, not below that, and if I go just a hair above that it shoots the gauge all the way to above full. I was in there again today putting in a more powerful fuel pump and decided to look deeper into it, and I took apart the float assembly. That is to say I bent the little tabs up and took off the shell to expose the little, potentiometer? is that what it's called? The coil that the little connector drags on when the float moves. Well anyway it's completely in pieces, it had 2 burn marks and was broke at these burn marks so basically, when the float was at it's bottom point it finally made connection with the little bit of solid coil that was left, that's why it sent a signal to the gauge to finally move.

My question is, can these parts be replaced? It looks like a little snake, a circular coil, but it's rivited in at the connector so I can't see it being easy to just replace. I cannot find the sending units for sale anywhere, but it would be silly to replace the whole unit just for that little inside part. I know the housing for the float is welded to the sending unit so I guess it would just need to be replaced as a whole. But does anyone know where I can get a new sending unit OR a way to replace just the circuitry inside the float mechanism? I wouldn't really want to get it from a junkyard because it'll probably be not in much better shape, but i'm sure this same sending unit has been used in many cars.

Sorry for the long winded post but I like to explain every detail so noone is left confused. I can take a picture of the little thing I took out but it probably wouldn't do any good. I did keep it (in pieces) for reference.

 

AFAIK, just the resistance element is not available by itself. You have to replace the whole thing.

You might be able to find a junk one somewhere somehow, and take that piece out, and replace it yourself though.

 

Blah, I'll just check the dealerships for new sending units, maybe they rebuild them? lol

thanks for the reply though

 

I forget offhand if our cars are 0-90 ohm (i think so) or the newer type with like 70-240ohm (dumb, why they do this i dont know).

Anyhow. Check around parts stores/summit etc for generic sending units, most have a compatible signal and you can remove the guts from it to transfer to your factory one. A little wiring and soldering and its fixed for about $50 or less.

later
Jeremy

 

so by generic, you mean a sending unit that wont work in my car? I mean if I bought a new sending unit, I would just use it instead of mine lol. But mine has nothing wrong with it at all except for, well, the gas gauge.