fuel gauge issues
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 75
Likes: 0
From: Central Florida
Ok... So with a fill up mine goes to btwn full and 3/4 full. Once it reaches about 3/4 full the needle bounces around stopped or moving. So I should test the guage first, then move to the sending unit? Mine is an erratic bounce. Not a slow back and forth like fuel moving around.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,672
Likes: 17
From: Orange, VA,
I take a jumper and touch both wires, if the needle goes to full the gauge is ok, to me it sounds like the sending unit has a bad spot in it, when the float goes up or down there is a metal piece that runs up and down this mesh looking material, that sends the signal to the gauge.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 15,363
Likes: 24,231
From: NC, USA
I don't trust mine one bit even though it works. I zero out the odometer at each fill up and make sure to be scoping for fuel around the 150 mile mark or less. I also keep a 1 gallon angled can in the saddle bag just in case.
Cruiser
Joined: Jul 2013
Posts: 217
Likes: 1
From: Green Bay wi
Prolly a good idea to keep a spare. Ran out twice on my sport. Luckily it has a back up. My gaurs on my road king drops out really fast at the end. At 150 I had a quarter tank, left home and went about ten miles and the light was on and it was riding E. Never trusted it again.
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Cruiser
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
From: Sunshine State
Ok. My needle flies to the left when I turn on the ignition. Now, when it bounces back and forth it will go all the way to full and then to empty and does this both while im riding or sitting still idling. When it's full, it doesn't do this. Always starts when it gets to about the 3/4 mark. So would that still be the gauge?
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 2,488
Likes: 30
From: Maryland near DC
Ok. My needle flies to the left when I turn on the ignition. Now, when it bounces back and forth it will go all the way to full and then to empty and does this both while im riding or sitting still idling. When it's full, it doesn't do this. Always starts when it gets to about the 3/4 mark. So would that still be the gauge?
Yes the gauge is bad, the way the system works is the, float assy. in the tank has a variable resistor on it, as the arm moves up or down the resistor value changes in accordance to the location of the arm (like turning your dimmer on your house lights up and down)...that is all the sender unit does, when it is bad either you don't get a reading or the reading is intermittent, or if it stuck the reading never changes...all other problems come from the gauge itself...the gauge is where the brains are, and it "decides" what to do with the information it gets from the sending unit in the tank...
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 1,672
Likes: 17
From: Orange, VA,
It could also be the sending unit that has a bad spot on it, the float bouces around more as the fuel level lowers, when it starts hitting the bad spot the gauge will bounce up and down, mine did the same thing until I replaced the sending unit, usually the gauge is ok if you ground the wire on top of the tank and needle goes to full, all the gauge does is read what the sending unit is sending it, most of the time the problem is the sending unit.
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Road Captain
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 745
Likes: 5
From: Colorado City, Tx.
well, I ordered a fuel gauge to try and WALAAAA!!!!! That was it, the gauge was jumping around once it came off of FULL but now it reads correctly and smooth sweep up and down and steady while riding
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