Fuel gauge dont work

NJCIVICWAGON1

I have a friend that has a 89 Civic sedan LX. His fuel gauge reads full but it wont move. He ran out of gas twice.....Does anybody know if I should change the gauge in the cluster itself or what else can it be? Thanks...

lalunette

My 90 wagon gauge reads full but at the 1/3 mark it stops to register the proper amount of gas in the tank.

I think your friend and I have the same problem... a faulty sending unit in the gas tank.

Cheers !!

progress

I had a similar problem with my guages in my 90 CRX. Whenever I went to start my car, the temp guage would shoot up past the redline. A quick switch with another guage cluster I got from a donor CRX I bought fixed that!

Or, like mentioned above, it could be your sending unit.

Haydz

Yeah a few possibilities that it could be. The dipstick thing in the tank is known to get crusty and stop moving, it could also be that.

Not exactly sure how you'd go about diagnosing something like that aside from starting to replace things one by one.

lalunette

Pacifier wrote:

Not exactly sure how you'd go about diagnosing something like that aside from starting to replace things one by one.

That's the unfortunate things about fixing a fuel gauge...

Start with the electronics (they are the easist to pull) and, if that doesn't fix things, go for the gas tank.

Last Spring I brought an 87 B2000 back to life and had to remove and clean out the gas tank... Two of the four bolts disintegrated in my hand, the tank was full of sludge and I never got the gas gauge to work. Luckily I recently picked up an 86 B2000 with a working gas gauge and will be switching over to that truck in a little while.

NJCIVICWAGON1

Thanks for the replies. Im going to the junkyard and pick up another gauge cluster. Replace the old one to see if that works.

TIMELESSWHITE

sounds familiar with mine; with a full tank the needle only goes to about 3/4's shy of FULL. A friend of mine says it's the fuel float inside the tank.

SiWagon

1)Remove Seat & Maintence Access Cvr.Disconnect connector from fuel guage sending unit.
2)Attach voltmeter + to Yel/Whi & - (neg.)to Blk
Turn on ign.Got voltage?Goto next step.If not check #1 fuse(10a) in dash OR open wire in the Yel/Whi or Blk wire.OR Poor ground.
3)Off ign. Attach a jumper between the 2 terminals in step#2.
Turn Ign. ON.Needle should swing toward full.
:!: :!: :!: Turn Ign. off before it reaches "F" or you may blow your guage.

4)If needle does not swing.Fuel gauge is BAD :evil: OR fuel sending unit needs to be tested.

akiraboy

nice step by step man

949

how is the senders tested?

SiWagon

Need to check shop manual(for ohm values),but basically depending on float position reads different values on a VOM meter.
Go here for shop manual:
http://www.hondacivicwagon.com/board/vi ... php?t=1737

mylswago.com

im havin this same problem my fuel gauge worked when it hit 1\4 of tank
i put a ls in my wagon now the fuel nor temp gauge works
anyone know whats wrong?

949

i just recently adjusted and fixed my fuel gauge sender unit. why fix? well i presonally want to replace anything with new stuff at this point of the cars life but there are no more oem sender units form honda anywhere.

well mine wouldn't stay on the full side for very long, it would keep dropping to 3/4 fill mark all the time even after a full fill up.

i thought it was the gauge in the cluster itself but i decided to check the sender first, it would be more easier and quicker with less mess of electrical stuff going wrong.


here is what i did.
take the sender out of the fuel tank and make sure to have the plug reattached if you took it off to take it out of the tank.

then turn your car key to where the acc and cluster moves the fuel gauge normally.

move the sender arm fully to one side and wait.... the gauge does take a while to move and readjust to the new level you set it too on the sender arm. i moved it from one full point and waited then one full point the opposite. i noticed the side that its supposed to be full was getting a weak signal. the fuel gauge will either drop again or just never move up to full with this test.

i think the copper wire inside the sender might be corroding. so i took it apart and used a very fine grit sand paper to sand where the contact is with the lever inside the encased sending unit. you dont need to rub a whole lot. the whole unit is submerged in gas whole life of the unit so it will tend to get a bit corroded. it didnt even look corroded either but i did this anyways, hoping it will fix the problem. to know if it worked, you need to have it put back together and test the arm again.

i then decided i wanted a more accurate reading on the gauge so i bent the arm of the sender down a little. not very much cause a little does a lot. that way the gauge will still stay near the center of the fuel gauge rather then move past the red empty line and sit there. so when its actually empty it will have just got to the red line rather then go there and sit there even tho you still have fuel. its a little more accurate this way in my opinion.

then i put it back together. it works ok now. the gauge will say full a little longer too after a fill up. when i get empty the gauge is more accurate too. i may have to adjust a little less on the arm because when im empty now its right above the red mark, but i need to have it right on the red mark for more accuracy. it needs to be fine tuned, you may need to do this a few times to get it where you need it.