Fuel Gauge Issue - is my sender bad?

[Pro300x24LD]

Progression 24LD, 300x Merc. Permanent in hull tank.

Gaffrig Gauge.

The guage lights up, but reads empty. Switched the Black and Pink wires that come from the tank and I get a Full tank of gas, however the light on the guage then goes out and I know thats not the right hook up.

At the tank end. Black and pink go to the guage, green is grounded. If I unhook the green it stops working.

Occasionally when out on the boat if I am chine walking real bad the guage may "kick in" and the low fuel light goes out, and the needle will bounce around a little at what I estimate to be the fuel level at the time.

Is the float for the sender stuck? Is the sender bad? How do I get to it to find out? It appears that it would be under the floor, not sure how to get the floor of the boat out? Do i have to cut it?

[CREWSMARINE05]

Make sure that everything is hooked up right first. Your gauge shouldn't light up when you switch on the key. The light on the gauge (if hooked up at all) should be wired into the navigation light so that they come on when you turn on the switch. You have the ignition wire hooked up to the light prong if the gauge lights up when you turn on the key. The color code on the wires is black/ground - blue/light+ - Purple/ignition - pink/sender. If the guage is hooked up correctly and working............take a piece of wire or something and touch the pink and black wires at the tank. This should make the needle on the gauge jump to full and when you take it off it would go back to empty if there is no gas. If it jumps to full then your gauge is good. If you have gas in it and it still reads empty the you have a bad sender. You can take a screwdriver or socket and take that sender out and manually work it to make sure........David

[Pro300x24LD]

The low fuel light was the one coming on and "lighting" the guage. I just got back in from the garage. The float on the sender no longer floats?

I moved the sender by hand and the guage works fine, sender is sending just fine, but the rubber float on the end is as hard as a rock and doesn't float in gas anymore?.....

Guess I will have to investigate getting a new float for the sender.

Thanks

[Riverman]

If it sinks I guess you can't call it a float anymore, can you? :D :D :D

[Pro300x24LD]

If it sinks I guess you can't call it a float anymore, can you? :D :D :D
My former float now sinks making it a sinker!

By the way, where would one purchase a float to replace the sinker?

[Pro300x24LD]

By the way, where would one purchase a float to replace the sinker?

Anyone?

[stokernick]

probably from Gaffrig

[Tom D.]

Go to your wifes craft shop and buy a piece of cork.


Tom

[Ron V]

The sender in the tank should have nothing to do with the gauge, they are pretty generic. Can order them from just about any dealer. Some of them are adjustable to accomodate different tanks, some are fixed.

I had the same problem in one of the built-in tanks that came in the Rapid Craft, the cork got gas-logged and sank. Similar to the problem we've had with some of the original floats on antique outboards. The shellac coating may not have been ethanol proof. We coat all of our carb floats with POR 15 gas tank sealer to make them ethanol proof. If you just get a new cork, you can do this as well. It should be coated with something. If you replace the whole sending unit, many of them have composite floats now so that won't be an issue.

Just another reason built-in tanks are a pain in the ass and why I run a 13 gallon pontoon boat above-deck tank. Hard to do on a bigger rig though.