Stranded by fuel guage

[tracedog67]

Howdy,

 

Have had my '97 OBW for about a year now with 206k miles. Fuel guage has always been somewhat sporadic but I could always tell how much left by my trip odometer and the fuel warning light. But this morning on I-75 in Cincinnati I RAN OUT OF GAS!!!!! This means my light didn't work and I am getting crappy mileage on top of that!! What's the final word on these guages?

 

thanks

 

Tdog

[Commuter]

I have a 97 OB as well. Over the past couple of years, the gauge seems to be a little more erratic, but not bad. As you said, the light seems reliable, but once, my light did not come on until I was much lower than expected.

 

I've seen several reports of the sending units (there are 2) getting flakey when they get up in years as ours are. You can replace them, but they cost a good penny. Several people have reported on simply tearing them apart and cleaning up the slider / wiper contact part. Seems to give them life again for some time. I'll probably do this next summer. I've got a post saved about the accessing / cleaning / etc, but I won't be able to access it for a day. Perhaps someone else can post or send it to you. It didn't sound like too hard of a job. You access the sending units from above (under the rear seat).

 

Commuter (345k km, 214k miles)

[theotherskip]

i cleaned mine a while ago, and have been very happy with the results. there are a couple of changes i would make to the directions that are floating around...

 

the original directions commuter is talking about are here:

http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1187

 

the changes i would make are as follows:

 

#1 loosen the gas cap before disconnecting lines. any pressure in the tank will make the gas squirt out of the hoses! not fun!

 

#2 you do not have to cut off the thing he is talking about (using a dremel tool). i was able to lift the contact with a fingernail and move it off of the resistor contact area. there is enough give in the float to lift if over the stops so that the contact is hanging in air. you can just use a fingernail again to move it back when you are finished.

 

#3 use a pencil eraser to remove the corrosion. it works great, and is not too agressive. don't be surprised if some of the contact area has worn away from use over the years. i reassembled mine and it works good.

 

good luck

[mrtoyou7747]

Can not seem to open the link to the instructions for cleaning the fel guage sender contacts link below

 

 

 

http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1187

[NOMAD327]

I did both of the sending units in a legacy outback in less than an hour. They are not under the seat, they are under plates just behind the seat. In a sedan, they would be in the trunk all the way forward. As the otherskip suggested, a pencil eraser is a good cleaner, and by gently bending the pieces, you can move the contact piece off of the resistor surface without cutting anything. It fixed my readings right up, big improvement.

[slo5oh]

Shell gas?http://www.local6.com/automotive/3378460/detail.html

[theotherskip]

Can not seem to open the link to the instructions for cleaning the fel guage sender contacts link below

 

http://usmb.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1187

try http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1187

[later, Peter]

a new excitement for the 99 obw... the gas gauge no longer reaches full. almost but not quite... should I expect to pull & clean the sending units soon? Hard to judge the mileage now.

 

Later,

Peter

[Glenner55]

Just had both fuel tank sender units replaced but still getting bad readings off the guage. It won't get below 1/4 tank reading even when I'm down to 2 gallons left in the tank and the low feul light comes on. Once filled needle goes well above the F (full mark) and stay at full for 100 miles or about 4 gallons of use.

Any experience with this please reply.

Car is a 98 GT wagon

[mrtoyou7747]

According to my Haynes the fuel sender should read about 50 Ohms when empty and about 0 Ohms when full. Since you changed out both of them it probably is not a sender problem.

 

I think it could be a bad guage or perhaps some "extra" resistance across the guage lead to ground. Probably from some corrosion. THius would cause the guage to never see the 50 ohms empty value.

 

Just had both fuel tank sender units replaced but still getting bad readings off the guage. It won't get below 1/4 tank reading even when I'm down to 2 gallons left in the tank and the low feul light comes on. Once filled needle goes well above the F (full mark) and stay at full for 100 miles or about 4 gallons of use.

Any experience with this please reply.

Car is a 98 GT wagon

[Glenner55]

Problem was traced to a bad ground wire off the main fuse box, once fixed guage was good as new. Something to watch in older cars perhaps as it also led to false CEL readings and stalling at idle speed.

 

Glenn

 

According to my Haynes the fuel sender should read about 50 Ohms when empty and about 0 Ohms when full. Since you changed out both of them it probably is not a sender problem.

 

I think it could be a bad guage or perhaps some "extra" resistance across the guage lead to ground. Probably from some corrosion. THius would cause the guage to never see the 50 ohms empty value.