Gas gauge pegged ?

[hiboom]

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/threads/nightmare-gauge-cluster-removal.413652/

There should be a bunch of pictures in this thread. Also undo the speedo cable under the hood, that helps give you a little bit more room to pull the cluster forward.

also push the speedo cable from the engine compartment towards the inside of the car you can damage the speedometer by pulling on the cluster housing to hard .

 

[v6turbo87]

You don't need to pull the entire cluster out to get at the gas gauge. The Speedo can stay in.

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[stage1gn]

Went for a drive yesterday,maybe 60 +/- miles,gauge still way over full,so far over you have to look high into the cluster to see where it is.I disconnected the plug at the tank,grounded out the gauge wire,it does swing,it goes from full (not grounded),to empty when grounded.So it looks like it is not the gauge,but is the sending unit.With the wire still grounded,I tuned the key off so it stayed on empty,plugged the fuel pump connector back in,started the car.Now it only went right to exactly full,not beyond like before.Drove home another 30 miles,now the gauge seems to be reading.When I accelerate so the gas slushes back to the rear of the tank,the gauge was dropping to about 3/4's full.Driving the car the rest of the way,it seemed to be reading semi normal,staying around 3/4,but I know there is not 3/4 tank of gas in there.
For right now I have a 2 1/2 gal can of gas in the trunk,and am going to push the car (by using what the gauge is saying),and if it runs out,I have gas to put in.The tank being empty,I will take out and put a new sending unit in.
Now,next question,where/what one to get for a replacement ?

 

[earlbrown]

There's a good chance you can fix your existing sending unit when you get the tank down. checking the spring tention on the wiper arm will often get one acting right again. It also helps with accuracy (and response time) if you solder a wire from the arm to the hanger to fortify the ground path.

 

[The Radius Kid]

I recall years ago when I made my own hotwire kit that when the signal wire for the gauge loses contact,the gas gauge pegs high.
I ended up fixing the pin on the new connector and all was well.

 

[TireFryer]

Went for a drive yesterday,maybe 60 +/- miles,gauge still way over full,so far over you have to look high into the cluster to see where it is.I disconnected the plug at the tank,grounded out the gauge wire,it does swing,it goes from full (not grounded),to empty when grounded.So it looks like it is not the gauge,but is the sending unit.With the wire still grounded,I tuned the key off so it stayed on empty,plugged the fuel pump connector back in,started the car.Now it only went right to exactly full,not beyond like before.Drove home another 30 miles,now the gauge seems to be reading.When I accelerate so the gas slushes back to the rear of the tank,the gauge was dropping to about 3/4's full.Driving the car the rest of the way,it seemed to be reading semi normal,staying around 3/4,but I know there is not 3/4 tank of gas in there.
For right now I have a 2 1/2 gal can of gas in the trunk,and am going to push the car (by using what the gauge is saying),and if it runs out,I have gas to put in.The tank being empty,I will take out and put a new sending unit in.
Now,next question,where/what one to get for a replacement ?

We tried this and when we grounded the signal wire, needle did move towards E slowly but then hung out near 1/4 tank... Could only duplicate this 2x out of about a dozen times we tried... Any ideas on what to do next?

 

[michael evans]

We tried this and when we grounded the signal wire, needle did move towards E slowly but then hung out near 1/4 tank... Could only duplicate this 2x out of about a dozen times we tried... Any ideas on what to do next?

Change the gauge

 

[TireFryer]

Change the gauge

What's best way to access the gauge? How to guide?

 

[TurboTGuy]

What's best way to access the gauge? How to guide?

Read comments 16, 17 & 18 right here in this thread.

 

[TireFryer]

Thanks for all the help... Looks like the e issue lies with the 2 mutilated prongs. 2nd from top is ground which would explain why gauge is pegged - when we pushed onto the cluster into the dash, it would make connection with ground and provide reading. Will carefully adjust the prongs and report back with results.

 

[TireFryer]

So, carefully bent the pins back into place where they belong, mounted the dash, hooked up another sender, and vwala!!! working fuel gauge that is accurate!!