Fuel gauge not working?

[micah202]

Update..... soaked the old parts and tank in vinegar, very effective for rust removal.
A bit of wiggling and twiddling, and the worn actuator seems to work fine.
It's handy to note that the unit can be tested simply by plugging it in. It doesn't need to be grounded, or positioned in the tank.

Ooph, gettin desperate. The actuator arms are totally worn on both gauge senders I have.
Is there a fix for those?

Otherwise,, someone mentioned this gauge unit above,, but no mention of success or otherwise.

Is this the correct Ohm Range? Worth a try @ ~$50 shipped?
0-90 ohms

With Low Fuel Warning Contact




https://www.jegs.com/i/VDO/918/226-164/10002/-1



Originally Posted by coronan
I would like to go this route.

VDO 226-164 - VDO Fuel Tank Sending Units

http://www.jegs.com/i/VDO/918/226-164/10002/-1

[Sir Goofy]

Is the actuator arm the part that rubs against the copper coil?

Good news on my issue. I was being impatient with the gauge responding after turning the car on. I was able to repair the sending unit by loosening the copper wire from the coil and soldering to the large metal disk located in the picture. Before putting it all back together I tried again and waited longer. This time it started to react, to say I wasn't fist pumping the air alone in my parkade would be a lie.

[micah202]

Sounds good., you got function back., But have you spent the time to check the sender is responding appropriately at different relative tank heights?

I took some time to be leaving the unit plugged in under the car, shifting the actuator arm to different positions, then checking back every once in a while to see what shows on the guage.

I gottah say it worked a lot better once I was looking at the actual fuel guage itself rather than the temperature gauge in the car,. I had a good laugh over that one.

[Temassi]

This might sound like a real silly question but after you soaked your sending unit in vinegar how did you make sure all the vinegar was off of it before you put it back in? My fuel sender seems to kinda work and I think the vinegar soak is my best option to start with.

[micah202]

I wouldn't be too worried about a small residual of vinegar. You can take a heat gun to it if you want to make sure it's really dry. I'm sure that's good enough, but if you're really worried you could wash it down with another solvent, or gasoline. Just don't do that while you're smoking.

As in the post above, you can plug in the sender underneath the car and take the opportunity to calibrate it to your gauge.

[clarkstoyvan]

On my 86 Van, my fuel gauge works intermittently. Anybody have any ideas? Also, when I start it I have the FLOOR it to get it start if it has been sitting for more than a couple of days. It cranks and cranks then starts. Any ideas on that?

Thanks for any information.

[Kombi]

Learning to research previous posts may prove valuable.

[MyToy]

The fuel indicator is pretty basic in its operation. Of course the sender is in the tank along with the low level indicator mounted to the sender module. It is Basically a steel wrapped potentiometer element acking as a voltage divider. If it is intermittent then most likely the wiper on the steel wrapped portion of the potentiometer is beat up or dirty. I had the same problem. I removed the sender and very carefully cleaned up the wiper and steel resintive element with some fine emry cloth. Then gave a bit of persuasion for stronger pressure with the wiper against the elements. That was 70K miles ago and it still works perfect.

As for you hard start. First thing to check on is the pressure in the ring line for the injectors. After you shut the engine down there is some fuel in the ring line. Once you turn the key there is a sail inside the air intake that provides the necessary DC to for ignition. As you crank, the suction pulls the sail and the sail trips a switch that starts routine. You can check the DC from the switch and see if it is providng spark voltage to the coil from the start.
I guess I have been very forturnate in that mine starts so fast, it feels like instant start up and runs perfect.
So start there first and report back.

My Toy

[Toyovan]

You can get this off Amazon hot-rod style canister type. It has a replaceable pleated paper 10 micron cartridge inside.. Jegs also sells replacement paper cartridges Aeromotive #027-12608. There's links hidden in my text that will take you right to the source. Anywhere you see blue text just click and it will take you there. Tim

Hey Tim if it's not too much of a bother can you list all the parts used on this fuel filter upgrade? Some of the links you posted back then are no longer good. Like the adapters on Amazon are NLA (also knowing how many of each would be good) also want to do the fuel pressure gauge and the coolant temp. I'm currently working on the fuel side of my van and rather do this mod all together. Much appreciated!

[timsrv]

I had recently updated all that on THIS POST. It's been a while but I think I only used one of every part listed. Tim

[Toyovan]

Sweet i got my hands on all the parts except the oil sensor gauge. The 1 you got is a bit pricey for me. No matter which guage I go with, what adapter T is needed (size and stuff) to install at the same location you did? Again thanks for answering all these questions

[timsrv]

You mean the fuel pressure gauge? It's been almost 10 years since I did this and I failed to document all the details of the pressure gauge mod. The parts needed for that were just a couple basic parts I found at my local hardware store. I think the tee is 1/8" female pipe thread and it looks like I added a 1/8" NPT nipple. IMO, brass is best for high pressure fuel systems. Tim

I mounted the gauge to the dash with THIS

[Toyovan]

Yes sorry I meant fuel pressure. Thank you very much Tim for all the knowledge. I'll leave it at that for now as I'm sure I will bother you again with questions in a month or so lol.