Gas gauge pegged on Full

[Ristorapper]

My boat is 14-15 years old. Everything is working except for the gas gauge right now. Last fill for some reason the gauge pegged out at full, and actaully beyond full. Two years ago with the help of the populace here, you helped me with a gauge that wouldn't come off empty. Now I have quite the reverse situation. Any ideas??

Appears everything is working at the gas tank as I looked into that; sending unit is it?? Things just getting old and need replaced or ????.

[yarcraft91]

Unplug the wire from the gas gauge sender.

- if the gauge still reads over full, there is a short circuit between the sender wire and ground, probably damaged insulation. Find and repair.
- if the gauge now reads empty, read on

Get 2 resistors at Radio Shack- one 30-40 ohms, the other 240-250 ohms.

- Connect one end of the 30-40 ohm resistor to the sender wire, the other end to ground. Gauge should read Full
- same test with the 240-250 ohm resistor, gauge should read Empty

If both tests above are OK, then the sender has probably failed.
If the gauge reads much higher than it should in both tests, the gauge has failed. The sender may also have failed because the gauge failed.

[Bill Krejca]

Don't mess with it - think of the gas mileage you are getting.

Bill

[cast_and_blast]

Originally Posted by Bill Krejca

Don't mess with it - think of the gas mileage you are getting.

Bill

[Ristorapper]

thanks Yarcraft 91 for the help.

Of course as we all might do, I did take the handle of a hammer and crawl under the console and give the gas gauge a slight tap to see if that would dislodge the needle on the gauge before i ever posted this on the forum. No such luck.

Friday I went out and bought the components Yarcraft recommended. Yesterday I set aside some time to fix the problem, or at least try to.

Wanted to try the tapping on the gas gauge one more time before doing what Yarcraft recommended. So I called the spouse out to the garage to assist as I was gonna turn on the switch/key, have her watch the gauge and tap on it from the back side of the console again. She asked which one is the gas gauge??????? lol, and I'm glad she did. I had a 3/4" dowel in my hand with which i was going to do the tapping from below. I pointed out the gas gauge to my wife with the dowel and slightly, ever so slightly tapped the gauge (cluster) with the dowel. WALLAA and that is a true story and I'm sticking to it. Problem solved lol......

But I'll keep the resistors and the explanation from above for future reference.. Thanks alot Yarcraft91 for your quick reply...