Titua1915

I have a problem my gas gauge is on empty and cluster shows 0 miles to empty, it works sometimes, but majority of time is on empty. I have no codes for gas or fuel problems. Only thing that my mechanic said that his snap on machine had an error on the intrument cluster about fuel lever sender or sensor power short to ground. He said this code did not show up on the engine but on the instrument cluster. Could it be a bad cluster or do you think its something else?

sswari

First thought would be the fuel sending unit in the tank has gone bad. Does it seem to work when the tank is at a particular level? I have seen where a sending unit will work between say 3/4 and a 1/2 tank, but all other levels it is at empty. It most cases, has to do with the winding on the sending unit.

uberwgn

I think sswari is on the right track. I, too, would check the sending unit. Things tend to get fouled up with age - - maybe it just needs a cleaning.

Titua1915

mechanic says its the cluster, is this possible?

jeffpuxx

It is possible it could be the cluster, but I would look at the sending unit first.

mkv

My money's on the sender, or the wiring to the sender. Take out the back seat, putt out the sender and fiddle with it. It should be fairly obvious which wires are for the sender and which are for the pump. You can probably short them to get 100% tank level on the cluster, or even just put a resistor across them if you have to get partial levels. But before you do this check and make sure they're the sender wires, and not a +12V feed to the pump or something like that.
If the wiring diagram I have with me now is to be trusted, it's a 3 wire system with 2 rheostats. One between Violet/White and Brown/Black, and the second between Violet/Black and Brown/Black. Brown/Black is ground, with the violets being the signal back to the cluster.
I can check an official diagram later this evening if you like, but when you take the sender out it should be obvious which wires go to the sender and which to the pump.

Medic1

Do you always buy gas from the same spot? I have had the same problems on 2 of my cars over the last many years. This Summer, I was going on a very long trip and wouldn't you know it, the gas gauge stopped working. I did 2 things. First, I added 2 bottles of Chevron's "Techron" to a full tank of gas from a different location than my usual and I let it sit for 2 days. I reset my trip meter and decided to get gas a 400 miles no matter what. I pulled off in Watertown NY and pulled up to a station with non-ethanol fuel. (I believe it was Sunoco, but not sure). I filled up there and noticed the gauge started working. I traveled into Canada, then refilled at the same station on my return trip. My gauge has worked since. Sometimes the deposits can affect the gauge (same thing in my Chevy). It is worth a try. I have also read that it is good to switch brands of gas occasionally for this very reason.

Good luck