Hello
My son's Deville's gas guage is broken. The local shop said it was the sending unit in the gas tank and was at least $900. I asked one junk yard if I could get an entire tank and they said they take all tanks out as soon as they get the cars due to safety reasons.

Is there any low cost solution to this problem? Any aftermarket part? I appreciate any advice.
Thanks

 

Might be missing something but the part is $25 on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/GM-FUEL-LEVEL-SEN...2em118Q2el1247

 

First of all, your post says gauge is broken, but the 'title' of your post says gauge is always on full. No matter what kind of vehicle, whether a Cadillac, or a Yugo, or a Mack truck, the fuel sender is just a rheostat that changes the voltage to the gauge depending on the position of the 'float'. Have you checked the wiring to the tank? If the input and output wires are shorted the gauge will read full all the time. I would suggest that you unplug the connector at the tank , and see what the gauge does. If it stays on full than you have a short in the wiring to the tank. If it drops to empty, than it may well be a faulty sender.

 

Heed the advice of the gents above .. but .. I'm still curious what the $900 is for.
Can you find out and enlighten us? Something doesnt add up.

 

My experience is that if it stays on full its an "open" connection. If it stays on empty its a grounded 12 volt wire. So I would look for an open wire. Poor chassis ground or a open connection would cause no voltage to the sender. The $900.00 quote is probably for a fuel pump as well as the sender. I see no reason to replace the pump as well.

 

Thanks guys for the reply.
You are correct, the title and message body don't agree. Sorry about that. The guage always reads full. I'll have to trouble shoot this and replace the sender if needed.

It was a mechanic who told my son that it "needs an entire module which is $900."

Now I don't know if that was parts and labor, or just parts. I assume the mechanic was just not that good and was going to replace the entire assembly (fuel pump?).

Anyway, thanks again. This gives me hope that I can fix it myself.

One last question: replacing the sender, if required: Do you need to remove the gas tank and if so, any tips or is it obvious?

Thanks
(I bought the shop manuals for my '97 ETC but don't have any manuals for the kid's car)

(It REALLY needs shocks too, it floats kind of from side to side (while driving straight) and we will most likely replace the shocks with aftermarket passive shocks)

 

There should be an access door in the trunk, remove spare tire and what not to find it. Sending unit and level sensor come out that way.

 

I has a similar issue but after filling it showed empty. My mechanic suggested that gum was blocking good contact at the top of the float. I used gas line clearner w every fill for about a month and it stopped.

 

By stopped, do you mean it is nowworking correctly? Please add year and type of car to your signature profile.

 

that's funny, because my 96 seems to only read 10 gal even when full, but it does go to E. what do you guys think could be the cause of that? Note: only had the deville about a week