What a pain in the a**. I decided to do this today when the wind was gusting to 60. The force of the wind had the boat heeling in the slip. I couldn't get my internet connection to my laptop through my Blackberry so when I tried to get back to this forum to see the recommendations, I couldn't. After removing the refrigerator and cleaning all the terminals, it seems that it might actually be accurate. If full, full is anything like empty, empty then it's definitely working. I removed the top wire and put it to the ground and it went lower than I've ever seen it. It turns out that I simply don't know how to read a meter but I got a reading between 150 and 175 ohms ???...The boat was rocking.
I don't really have anything to stick in the tank but I will try that next. It seems I just might not use much fuel.....or I'm an idiot who is going to run out when I least expect it. Thank you for the comments and suggestions... Sincerely, Michael --- In [email protected], David Savlin <dsav...@...> wrote: > > If your sender is like mine, it works as a variable resistor (aka > potentiometer) from 33 to 240 ohms. The higher the resistance, the lower the > fuel level. You can disconnect the wires from the sender that is atop the > fuel tank and hook up a multimeter set to the 200 or 2k ohm range to take a > reading. If you get a reading of, say, 120 ohms, the tank is approximately > half full, and you should check the wiring to the gauge to make sure there > is not an open circuit (broken wire). > > I would expect the gauge to drop to empty when power is removed from the > gauge by turning off / removing the key. Your description seems to me to > indicate there's an open circuit somewhere. With the key turned on, if you > take the top wire off the sender and ground it to something, the fuel gauge > should swing to "empty". If not, that would confirm the wire to the gauge is > broken somewhere, or there's a busted connector. > > Note that if the sender is bad, or flaking out, it may be more useful to use > an analog multimeter. On my boat, Persephone, the fuel gauge needle jumps > all over town; when I used my digital multimeter, the readings were all over > the place and it was difficult to get an idea of what was going on. I bought > an analog multimeter and the needle on the meter acted just like my fuel > gauge, which allowed me to narrow the problem down specifically to the > sender. Note that analog multimeters can provide notoriously inaccurate > measurements unless a quality (thus relatively expensive) meter is > purchased, but for a simple test like I needed, a cheap one served the > purpose. > > On that note, can anyone give advice on replacing the sender? I picked up a > replacement Teleflex sender, and it comes with a gasket, but I'd appreciate > advice even though it looks simple. Is it true that diesel fumes are not as > explosive as gasoline fumes? The Teleflex instructions don't call for any > special sealant or "liquid gasket" but is that a decent idea? Finally, can > anyone recommend a cutting wheel for a Dremel to cut a bit of the fiberglass > above the tank so I have room to remove and install the senders? (The sender > was clearly pre-installed to the tank before the tank was fiberglassed into > place...) > > David > Persephone, 1988 hull #6480 > (Now at home in our slip at Montrose Harbor, Chicago!) > > PS -- our transit from Racine, Wisconsin to "home" happened this past > Wednesday, with winds from 10 to 25 knots the whole ride. We stuck with just > our main and the motor to assist, and we cleared 6+ knots the entire ride > and had a blast! > > On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 9:57 PM, Michael <mlong9...@...> wrote: > > > > > > > I've run the engine for approximately 20 hours and my gauge still reads > > close to full. The gauge goes down to "empty" when the key is disengaged and > > to almost "full" when I turn the key. Is it possible that I would be > > anywhere near full after approx 20 hours of use? Is there another way to > > tell how much fuel is in the tank without filling it to the top? Any > > thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks > > > > > > >
