I have a and 1979 244 and am having problems with my fuel guage not reading correctly. I can fill it up and it will still read at 1/2 and then sometimes it will read full, but when it does read full after about 50 or so miles it will go right back to 1/2. And then sometimes it won't read at all. Could it be the float, if so is that an easy replacement? I wa also think it might be a back ground, any suggestions? Thanks Derin

Sorry about my last post to you ---When I got home I realized I was discribing the board for the temp guage not the gas guage.

I found the problem in my case for the gas guage to be a bad ground and a broken wire right where it goes into the tank---when I replaced the wire I also replaced the in/tank pump....It was tight and there was a lot of rust---it took some doing to save it and even some JB WELD!!!!!!!!! BEST TO YOU let us know how and what you did for the fix!!

BILL NELSON HARTDORD, WI

More than likely, rusty, corroded connectors atop gas tank. As stated in below post....gets rusty, and dirty there.Try to clean connections. As you suspected, may be just a bad ground. If beyond hope, replace all as stated in below post.

DIY....be careful. It is a GAS tank.

Enjoy.

This problem is usually caused by bad fuel level sender.

Beware those who would tell you to smack on top of the instrument panel to "cure" the problem. You do this at the risk of damaging circuit boards in there.

Th fuel level sender also includes all the top-of-tank terminals where fuel, vapor lines (if used on your '79), and wiring go in and out for your pump and level sender.

Sender's float can go bad, and also the connectors and contacts. Replacement is a pain for sedans, not so bad for wagons. Not much working room in sedans. for all, you need special care to avoid making sparks when removing big sheet-metal lock nut, else gas goes BOOM.

Likely everything there is a big ugly rusty rotten mess. Since the level sender is also the terminal panel, replacing that cleans it all up.

Replacing the in-tank pump is an option, while working in there. The part is not too expensive, so you might want to replace even if it has not been a problem. Car will run with a dead in-tank pump, and many are doing just that.

There is a stabilization board on the back of the instrument cluster---when you remove the cluster which contains the gas guage you will see it attached to the guage. The 4 little prongs that insert to the stabilization board are coroded with solder flux or other crap--clean them (4 each) off for a better to the board and guage connection----that should do it-----write to me through this forum to let me know if it works!

Bill N.