fuel gauge and coolant

[Acca Dacca]

First things first, my fuel gauge is buggered. Apparently after my Sierras done 80k its used up half a tank. Then for some strange reason over the next 100ks the fuel level drops only slightly. Only at about 1/4 level does the gauge actually give some sort of accuracy. So I'd like to know if its easy to fix and what kind of thing would be involved.

Plus, yesterday someone else was driving my Sierra when a radiator hose just gave out and started pissing out coolant. They decided to get a tow truck and so it was towed to my Uncle's workshop. Luckily no engine damage. He fixed it free of charge, but didn't fill it up with coolant, Apparently they're unsure of which one to use and said that certain coolant isn't good for the head. They also said stay away from Tectaloy. So I'm also asking what coolant you guys use because all my uncles done is complicate things by saying not to use some coolants, I was planning on just popping down to Repco and SuperCheap to get coolant.

[alien]

i think everbody's fuel guage on here is stuffed =) haha mines exactly the same as yours. forget about it - just drive by how many km youve done... when i get to 230-250km its time to fill up (30L). But i drive hard =)

Coolant - go to Balcatta Radiators on Balcatta Rd (just up from Bunnings) - they make good stuff there which i have been using since i got my zuk. Take your own container to fill. i use 5L ones - they last about a year.

[crispy zook]

my fuel guage is the same too

[Ridealldayrideallnight]

Ha Ha, you get 80k's before it says half a tank!

mine is usually about 50, I've had it drop to half as low as 12k's from filling up. I too get 250k's to a 34L tank, brings up some questions about the little 1.3 but it's good to hear I'm not the only one with these issues.+

I use the Tectaloy coolant, which was cheaper at Repco than at Super Cheap what issues do they think it will have? I havnt had any problems, I had a hose let go a month back but thats just general car bullshit isnt it?

[alien]

no no my 1.3L motor used to get 320km to 30L =) that dropped to 300 to 30L as i drove it harder...

its the 1.6L with the extractors and weber that takes me back to 230ish km... twice the power of the 1.3L though so i cant complain!

[SiKiD_01]

my fuel gauge never goes to full, even when i have PULP pi$$ing out of the filler. 35L, and i get about 220kms. not good. but heaps fun.

but i guess thats what happens when you drive a vit.

and coolant, well, any coolant is better than none, and none being just plain ol tap water. i just buy the concentrate, and mix it up. you cant be too careful with an alloy block.

anyway, i cant help on any of your questions, so sorry. but seeing as everyone else is telling their fuel gauge problems......

later

[JJ]

Your gauge moves

[muppet_man67]

Your gauge moves

very simple thing to fix. fuel gauges are not complex.

[87suzi]

Mines buggered too, ahh the pride of owning a sierra. But Acca Dacca from the sounds of it I'd say it's the sender not the gauge. Most likely that is.

[muppet_man67]

why would you say its the sender? the sender has nothing to do with the gauge.

The guages wont give you accuracy in liters they just arnt that high tech. however they are consistent. If you pay attention when you put petrol in as it seems you do then you will learn what your fuel situation is depending on where your gauge is. Its one of those things with sierra (such as 4wd lights staying on) that as long as you know whats going on its not an issue and its not really worth fixing. Unless you are neurotic.

[87suzi]

The sender has nothing to do with the gauge? News Flash! The gauge reads from the sender unit! Gauges usually are consistent, not always, neither are the sender units in the tank. Do you know what mine does constantly? Goes up and down like each time you turn the key. With half a tank it'll show full, then next time you start the car it'll show like a quarter. Thats why in my case it is most likely the sender thats not being consistent. But I'm not getting it fixed anyway, the trip meter is good enough for me now.

[-Mandy-]

And i thought i was the only one with a buggered fuel gauge, after the speedo cable broke (over a year ago) causing odometer to stop on Grumpy, i learnt that when the gauge reads just over a 1/4- it's farkin empty.

Would get about 500km's+/30L with my old white zuk.

[muppet_man67]

The sender has nothing to do with the gauge? News Flash! The gauge reads from the sender unit! Gauges usually are consistent, not always, neither are the sender units in the tank. Do you know what mine does constantly? Goes up and down like each time you turn the key. With half a tank it'll show full, then next time you start the car it'll show like a quarter. Thats why in my case it is most likely the sender thats not being consistent. But I'm not getting it fixed anyway, the trip meter is good enough for me now.

Have you ever pulled a sierra gauge and sender out of the tank? you will find they are seperate. nothing connects them. the gauge reads off a float and is its own unit.

[87suzi]

No I've never pulled a fuel gauge out of a petrol tank. Just playing with ya. The gauge reads off a sender in the fuel tank. Yes inside the tank there is a float regulating the resistance that then goes through the gauge, this whole unit is the sender. Whats the difference between the sender and the float?

[RB zook]

just recently i ran out of fuel with just over 1/4 a tank

thaqn after that the guage seemed to be alrit for a week

not it gets to that 1/4 mark and the guage doesnt go any further


pita having to go off the odometre

[HRZOOK]

just recently i ran out of fuel with just over 1/4 a tank

thaqn after that the guage seemed to be alrit for a week

not it gets to that 1/4 mark and the guage doesnt go any further


pita having to go off the odometre

Mine has been stuffed for years

You can pull it out of the fuel tank and tinker with it I have b4 with mine and got it going

[benjamin78au]

okay as far as i was aware . (some one bound to correct me) there is a float in the fueltank, which is part of the sender, as the float goes up and down it changes resistance. this is represented by the guage on the dash. what happens is the float can get stuck , and this causes it to show 1/4 when empty. but the main thing that happens is that the resistance material that the float slides on wears out, and hence why it cause ertatic measurements. if it that much of a concern , just change the sender. other wise, a good guess and a jerry can.

bj

[muppet_man67]

No I've never pulled a fuel gauge out of a petrol tank. Just playing with ya. The gauge reads off a sender in the fuel tank. Yes inside the tank there is a float regulating the resistance that then goes through the gauge, this whole unit is the sender. Whats the difference between the sender and the float?

I have pulled the gauges out and swapped them over. There is nothing connecting it to the sender. If I could post pictures I would draw a diagram for you. On pre coily model sierra you cannot remove the sender from the tank.

[87suzi]

Look, I'll take your word for it but it doesn't sound right. If you can't take your sender unit out what do you do if it plays up? Do you have to replace the tank? I think we're not on the same wavelength here about what a sender is. Whatever. No need to draw a picture, just get the sock puppets out.

[muppet_man67]

Look, I'll take your word for it but it doesn't sound right. If you can't take your sender unit out what do you do if it plays up? Do you have to replace the tank? I think we're not on the same wavelength here about what a sender is. Whatever. No need to draw a picture, just get the sock puppets out.

Perhaps not the same wave length. The sender is like a straw that goes to the bottom of the tank the fuel pumppump sucks from the engine. And yes if it plays up on a pre sj80 model sierra it would not be worth fixing you would replace the tank. coilys have a removeable sender unit so that they can be interchanged with fuel pumps for injection.

[TWISTER]

Mines got a 65 litre long range tank, don't know what brand or anything came with the Zook, the fuel gauge works in reverse!

I had a leak in what I though was the bottom hose, after replacing both hoses and some new clamps, putting Supercheap coolant in and then spotting a fine jet of coolant pi$$ing out. Was'nt happy! The bottom metal pipe that joins the two rubber hoses has rusted through. I'm going to call Suzuki today to find out how much a new one is, compared to getting one fabricated.

[Bad JuJu]

Rather than start a new thread...

Has anyone actually fixed the problem..

My guage never reads full ,unless it is overflowing.
20kms and the guage shows half a tank
150kms without moving
I then get about 50kms more before I decide to get fuel cause I dont want to push and the guage is showing empty at this stage.

[nicbeer]

Got any dents in ur tank? As mine is dented a bit and the gauge runs out at 1/4 to 1/2 tank, although shows full when it is. not much good going off the odo in mine either as the speedo cable broke last yr.

Nic

[mr green]

My guage never readsHas anyone actually fixed the problem..



sounds like i must be the only person to fix one. as the float moves up and down the resister it wears through the resister wire.this is the reason most are acurate under quarter of a tank(usning the piece of resistor tha is still in contact) i fixed mine buy replacing the resistor only, i took the one out of the gti i was wrecking at the time. dont know if you can buy it new or if you have to buy the whole float,resister, tank?
noticed how i didnt use the word sender?
no confusion

[mud4b]

ok.. this usually works here at suziworx.. we do this very often..

on the rear lhs side of the chassis rail is a little usless looking earth wire.

it goes from the chassis to the body... it is easy to find and is the same between all models of sierras.

either this is broken or its creating a bad earth. unscrew it from both ends, clean it up and re screw it..

now your fuel guage should work. if this fails remove the fuel level guage assembly (yes this is its true name and it includes the float) as these get sticky. you need to undo the metal case and give it a clean.

it is rarly the fuel meter body (real name for the istrument cluster fuel guage) that stuffs up.

[HRZOOK]

My guage never readsHas anyone actually fixed the problem..



sounds like i must be the only person to fix one. as the float moves up and down the resister it wears through the resister wire.this is the reason most are acurate under quarter of a tank(usning the piece of resistor tha is still in contact) i fixed mine buy replacing the resistor only, i took the one out of the gti i was wrecking at the time. dont know if you can buy it new or if you have to buy the whole float,resister, tank?
noticed how i didnt use the word sender?
no confusion

As mentioned in my above post I fiddled with mine and got it working again

Yes the resistor contact arm wears and eventually loses contact with the resistor.

Easy fix is bend it back toward the resistor.

You can get a little more tricky and run some solder onto resistior contact arm to get contact again.

Trickier still there is a small spring pulling the contact arm away from the resistor (probably to stop excessive wear) I put this spring on the other side of the arm to push it into the resistor

Works like a treat

[Bad JuJu]

Thanks all, mine seems fixed.
How ... the yellow wire with red stripe comming off the tank has a connector that you unplug to remove the tank. The wire was corroded mostly through where the connector was crimped to it.
I just cut the connector (an insulated bullet) off and replaced it with an new one .... All going YAY..

Mark I cant find the earth wire that you mentioned so I also made a body to chasis earth connector and bolted it from the chasis to the firewall. It was just a short earth strap I had laying round, doing this has brightened up all my dash lights and removed a noise I was getting through the UHF CB that changed with engin speed.

[nicbeer]

If this is not bible thread can we link it?

Also Bad-julu - u just fixed a common zook problem with crap earth points.

[lay80n]

Look, I'll take your word for it but it doesn't sound right. If you can't take your sender unit out what do you do if it plays up? Do you have to replace the tank? I think we're not on the same wavelength here about what a sender is. Whatever. No need to draw a picture, just get the sock puppets out.

Perhaps not the same wave length. The sender is like a straw that goes to the bottom of the tank the fuel pumppump sucks from the engine. And yes if it plays up on a pre sj80 model sierra it would not be worth fixing you would replace the tank. coilys have a removeable sender unit so that they can be interchanged with fuel pumps for injection.

Um hang on here. The straw you are talking about is the fuel pickup. The fuel gauge sender is the electrical unit that picks up the reading of the fuel level via float on an arm that slides along a variable resistor. The gauge is just a ohm meter that measures the resistance that is created by the sender. Usually a voltage is passed along this wire (approx 5 volts, know as reference voltage). Many cars have a combined fuel pick up and sender unit for gauge, such as a VT commadore MRA assembly. The leafy sierra's have a sender in the top of the tank held in by a couple of screws, that has a wire running from it to the front of the car. Current rums along this wire through the gauge then to the variable resistro attached to the sender float arm. It earths through the body of the tank to the chassis, so if you tank has a bad contact to the chassis, it will read wrong.

My gauge reads about 120KM to hald, then hits end at about 12L before tank empty.

Layto....

[Longbaser]

G'day all.
I sometimes think Sierra fuel gauges were designed in the factory to be inaccurate!

Anyway, some good advice has already been offered in that regard so I'll toss in my 20 cents worth on coolant. I used to swear by a product called SQ36, a heavy concentrate that claimed to have been developed by Rolls Royce and was fantastic, but I have not been able to find it for years. Changed about seven years ago to Tectalloy concentrate and I have no complaints, but it is also a matter of what you mix it with (that applies to all coolants).

NEVER use tap water with any coolant concentrate, it has too high a mineral content. If you or a friend have a rainwater tank, use that. If not, buy distilled water from the supermarket - it's pretty cheap considering the cost of a radiator, hoses etc, or a cooked engine.

Cheers - Longbaser.