gas guage bouncing

[biggerseagar]

Just got back from our sunday cruise and my starboard side gas gauge is bouncing back and forth.........what gives?

Do I start by taking the gauge panel out and check for loose connection and hope it is not the sending unit?

Roger

[seapuppy]

check all connections for corrosion...then go to the sender.....or...you could be outa gas!!

SP

[Bainic]

Hmmmmm... my gas gauge always bounces, I thought it was just normal......

[jrings]

I too had a weekend of a faulty gas gauge... It started last year. I filled her up on the way to the lake before a week long vacation. My wife backed her off the trailer and drove her to the dock for the evening. The next morning when I went out to start her i noticed the gas gauge read 1/4 tank. I thought someone had siphoned all the gas and I was pissed... After a quick trip to the marina to fill it back up I only put 1/2 a gallon of gas in before it squirted out all over the back of the boat (those overflows are a love / hate relationship). Anyway the beginning of this year I pulled the sender and checked with ohm meter and everything read correctly so I replaced all the connections figuring a bad ground was the culprit. Sure enough, I filled it up and the gauge read 1/4 tank. Pulled the sender, tested it again and had someone help me and everything worked correctly when out of the tank and operating the float by hand. The gauge moved from empty to full and back several times with no issues. Put the sender back in the tank and same thing, 1/4 tank when I knew the tank was full. Disconnected the sender put it in a bucket of water and the float worked great. On a whim, I watched very closely when putting the sender in back in the fuel tank and would you believe the float didn't float at all!! That's right, I watched it go straight to the bottom... I called the manufacturer, Wema, and they said it was uncommon but does happen. She said the float gets saturated and won't float in gasoline anymore..... learn something everyday!!

[pascavone]

the sender is just a resister....

if the float is bad, or the ground on the tank is bad, it will not work.

if you turn the key and it peggs full, then it's resitance is full, no needle movement is no resistance.

you can test the gauge buy just shorting the wire to ground on the back of the gauge.

before fooling with the tank, I usally get a $10 gauge from autozone and hook it up to the wires to see if it was the gauge.

the new maxum gauges are about $40.

[biggerseagar]

Thanks everybody!!..........Got the day off tomorrow and that is on my list of things to do or try to get done......

Roger

[Huddo007]

biggerseager - do you have an update on this one for us?, I have had the same thing happen this weekend, I have also had the motor balance gauge stop intermittently and wondering if you found your fault, im thinking an earth wire?? but a bump or two on the dash seems to sort mine out so something must be loose.