On the newly acquired 90 745T, the fuel gauge seems to have a mind of it own.

Every once in awhile when initailly starting the car it won't work, then after driving for for awhile it springs to life and appears to work fine for the duration of the drive.

At first I thought float, then realized that would not be it. So I checked the connections in the car and at the tank, all seemed to check out.

My question is, has anyone ever seen this condition before and what was the primary cause?

TIA

Brian

I'm guessing that this is an issue with the sending unit in the tank. There is a little rheostat-like component and a wiper which attaches to the arm that holds the float. These rheostats can get "dead spots" in them. The gauge in my '90 244 reads fine until I get down to 1/2 tank or so, then it doesn't register at all until I get down below 1/4 tank, then it functions intermittently after that. This car sat for about a year with a tank of Shell gasoline in it; this after Shell had some issues with damaged fuel sending units in cars in this area due to some bad gasoline. Maybe your newly acquired car was subjected to the same stuff?
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Mike W., 3 240s, a 740T and a 940T, Largo, FL

I was think something along those lines, but I have never seen one that works intermittently. But come to think of it when it was above 1/2 tank it was fine, and when a 3/8 is when it started to act up. I do know that when I get on it and slosh the tank heavily it starts to work again. I will pull the sender and check the resistance through the range of movement and look for a dead spot.

Thanks for the good advice.

I found slapping the side of my dash helped. It eventually stopped doing it.


Andrew
1989 740 Turbo Intercooler
161000 miles.

Alright pimp slapin is the cure!