If I wasn't having enough fun with the brake light problem, I filled up this morning on the way to work and on the way home the fuel gauge decided not to work. I checked the obvious and tank is still full (hadn't been siphoned or leaked) but gauge reads "E". WTF?! Any ideas why it's all of a sudden not working? It was fine yesterday. I'll post a pic of the gauge on "E" tonight for those who need a visual.

EDIT: Here is the pic

 

Hmm, one electrical thing, then another!

I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out your battery was faulty and needed replacement.

Or it could be something totally unrelated.

 

bike starts fine and battery charges (tops off) in no time at all, I thought the tank had a float, the only electrical there was the back light

 

clearly I was wrong, I need to get in the habit of checking my manual before bugging you guys but then again someone might chime in with the ol' "I had the same problem..."

FUEL GAUGE OPERATION 2.1
THEORY OF OPERATION
See Figure 2-1. With ignition switch ON, the fuel gauge (1) is
connected to +12 volts. Current flows through the gauge and
variable resistor (4) in the fuel gauge sending unit (3) to
ground. The sending unit float (2) controls the amount of
resistance in the variable resistor.
Inoperative gauges may be caused by three circumstances.
●
Sender or fuel gauge not grounded.
●
Malfunction in sender or fuel gauge.
●
Broken or disconnected wire from ignition switch to fuel
gauge.
Use the FUEL GAUGE AND SENDER TEST to test suspect
components.

FUEL GAUGE AND SENDER TEST
CAUTION
Always refer to the applicable wiring diagram (at the rear
of this manual) when troubleshooting instruments or
gauges.
1. See Figure 2-2. Remove gauge. Ground Y/W wire of fuel
gauge sender located at bottom of gauge. Turn ignition
switch ON.
a. Fuel gauge must indicate FULL. If gauge indicated
FULL, gauge is functioning correctly. Proceed to
step 2.
b. If gauge did not indicate FULL, proceed to step 3.
2. Set MULTI-METER (Part No. HD-35500) to RXI scale to
measure the resistance of the sending unit. Place one
probe on Y/W and the other probe on a good ground.
a. If fuel tank is full, the reading should be 40 ohms. An
empty tank should have a 240 ohm resistance. A
half full tank will be approximately 97-118 ohms.
b. If a very high resistance or infinity is indicated on the
meter, the sender may be “open” or not grounded.
Check that sender and fuel tank are grounded by
placing one probe of Multi-Meter on sender flange
and the other probe on crankcase. Meter must indicate
one ohm or less. Replace sender if one ohm or
less was present. If a higher resistance is present,
check for poor connection on ground wire.
3. Check voltage to O/W (+) and BK (-) wire of fuel gauge
connector [117] if gauge did not indicate FULL.
a. Correct reading is equivalent to battery voltage.
b. If battery voltage is not present check for broken or
disconnected wire. Replace gauge if wiring problem
is not found.

 

I have an 02 WG and the gauge has screwed up several times. My problem turned out to be the wiper on the variable resistor not making contact. I bent the contact wiper (rubbing point) twice, but the 3rd time the float arm had come off and was floating in the tank. The last time was when the copper wiper arm had broken off and when I went to get a new one they wanted way too much for the new sending unit so I said screw it and just put in gas at 150 miles. It was never very accurate anyway and my reserve works fine. Of course with 116k on it and being 12 yrs old, it is to be expected.

 

sorry to bring up an older thread but this is still a problem, I pulled the sending unit and noticed the float arm had gotten loose from the reader so I thought maybe that would fix it- it did not

I came across this video:

I will take it apart again this weekend and look to see if maybe something like this would fix mine, HD says the part is obsolete but they gave me a link for after market place that has it, I'd prefer to fix first however

 

well the good news is, the resistive coil is intact, measuring roughly 103 ohms, bad news is, it appears the pickup is damaged, you are looking at the pickup in this picture, I can not tell if there were 4 "arms", if they were looped together, if there was a round pickup somewhere on it or what

 

So, does anyone have a fuel gauge they've given up on? Would you please send it to me? Or just send me the pickup? I'll pay you of course.