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I have an olds minivan 1999. about six months after I bought it used my fuel gauge started acting screwy. Any reading when the tank was half full - the needle pointer would go all the way upscale then all the way downscale, then it would settle somewhere in the middle. Go over a bump and it owuld start all over. What I could get access to the connectors are clean and tight. The tank is plastic so I can't ground it. If I fill it up it reads full like its supposed to and goes down as the level decreases, but below half it goes screwy again.
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Sounds like the sender's shot. I'll check with my son (master mechanic) tomorrow.... -
Okay, HayZee....Dave says it sounds very much like the sender is going bad. It's nothing more than a potentiometer. Since it's a '99, it may well be time for a fuel pump as well. Also, if the filter hasn't been changed often enough, it causes a lot of pressure for the pump and prematurely wears them out. What to do: use fuel until almost empty. Will probably have to drop the tank, as most likely there's no easy topside access hole. Sometimes a hole can be cut in the floor to access the sender unit. Suit yourself...but, the sender unit sometimes is, sometimes is not, a part of the pump. Both are in the tank for that year I believe. You could drop the tank, pull the sender out and then, with a DIAL type ohmmeter slowly move the float across it's range. IF you see a bunch of radical skipping rather than a smooth change, it needs replacing. They may/may not be pricey. Don't know that. Now...for MY opinion: install new sender, pump and filter. After all that effort of dropping that tank, I would put only new back in. It's five yrs old (X approx. 15k miles a year...)= peace of mind.Comment
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