Fuel guage

[Lakeman]

My fuel guage has started working only about half the time. Any ideas?

 

[trikermutha]

either loose connection or bad gauge..Or inside the fuel tank..

 

[Bikerbozo]

Ditto on all that. I would start resetting you trip odometer when you fill up and paying close attention to your mileage.

 

[msocko3]

Ditto on all that. I would start resetting you trip odometer when you fill up and paying close attention to your mileage.

Reseting the trip odometer is a habit I got into when I was riding Sportsters, still do it today with the touring bikes and trike.

 

[Lakeman]

Those are the areas that I figured. Where is the wiring for the sending unit? It looks like the fuel pump and the sending may be one unit but not sure. They do use the same fuse so that is not blown. I have been resetting the trip odometer, but would like to have the fuel guage. A little background, I had a cluster -------.
I installed an oil temp guage and an oil cooler that has two fans, also installed a manual switch for the fans. I also bypassed the parade fan thermostat and put in a manual switch for it. Then I stared blowing the fuse (15 amp) for the brake lights, tech and speed odometer. of course I started looking where I had been working, everything looked fine. Then I discovered it would blow at times when I applied the brakes. Loooong story short. The insulation on one of the wires going to the rear brake light switch had worn thru and ( I had been nowhere near this switch!!) was shorting to the frame at times. Fixed that and everything was fine. The next day or so (not sure when) the fuel guage started screwing up. I rechecked all my work again and everything looked fine. I was pulling on some wires under the fuel tank when I was bypassing the parade fan thermostat. Will check that, but do need to know where the sending unit wiring is. The guage will work at times, read wrong at times and always will read correctly when full. It never moves fast it is dampened as it should be.

 

[Gorilla]

Your fuel guage works on how many volts it is seeing coming from the sending unit. The sending unit clips to the fuel pump inside the tank on the left side. The wiring will be in the harness that connects to the top of the tank by the fill opening. You will need a wiring diagram to identify the correct power wire. A service manual has a section on trouble shooting a bad readin fuel gauge. Good luck.

 

[Lakeman]

Thanks, I have a Clinton service manual and didn't see anything about the fuel guage. But it does have a wiring diagram. Will see what I can come up with.

 

[Boom]

Reseting the trip odometer is a habit I got into when I was riding Sportsters, still do it today with the touring bikes and trike.

+1 on that also from my Sportster days. I also got into the habit of putting the odometer in the 'r' setting to keep a ballpark reading on how many miles until fill-up.

 

[Lakeman]

Yesterday the fuel guage was reading more than half a tank but the low fuel lite was on. I think this should eliminate the guage. Am I thinking correctly? The tank had about two gal in it, when I filled up took three.

 

[pigbike]

My fuel light comes on and you better be close to a fuel stop. I have put as much as 4.9 gal in a 5 gal tank shortly after my fuel light has come on.

 

[Lakeman]

When mine was working I would have about 1 gal left, which is correct if I remember correctly.

 

[pigbike]

Mine doesn't move off full for a long time, then it goes down to half at about rather quickly but not too bad. After 1/2 it will down like a stone.

I just keep a eye on it so it's no big deal to me.