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Fuel sender on a gl1100

1355 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  miroku800, 
miroku800
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I understand the principle of the sender IE. a change in resistance by the movement of the float alters the gauge, but can anyone tell me which 'resistance' end is which IE. is it high resistance when full or empty

My gauge appears to be reading 'high' and I was wondering if a bad connection somewhere could be affecting the end resistance result thus offsetting the reading or wether the sender is just 'stuffed' and this is how they go when they go 'bad'

Many thanks for any info

Rob
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DaveO430
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Sorry but a bad connection would have the opposite effect. The resistance is high when the tank is low, low when full. If the temp gauge is also reading high it could be the 7 volt regulator.
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miroku800
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Thanks for the reply but the temp gauge is reading fine so I discounted the 7 volt reg
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T
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My fuel gauge was reading "E" all the time. When I cleaned the rust from the tank, I found the gauge was stuck in the down position. I carefully straightened the small tabs on the cover for the "workings" and then gave it a through cleaning.

I first scrapped the crud loose. Then used contact cleaner on the little wire. Be extremely careful not to break the little wire. A contact reads the resistance along the length of this wire to indicate the gas level in the tank. After cleaning I reassembled and reinstalled the sending unit, and it worked!

I don't know what I did, other than the contact cleaner, that might have solved the problem. Good luck with yours!
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miroku800
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thanks for that
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F
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You say your gauge is reading high and I wonder if its like mine. If I fill my bike up it will stay on full for 50 miles or so. Then in another 100 miles it'll be to reserve but still running in the non-reserve position and will sometimes read completely empty before it hits reserve. The first part is it staying on Full for a long time. If you look at the sending unit you'll find that it operates in the bottom portion of the tank only. This prevents the fuel gauge from changing until it burns off the fuel in that area on top at the filler cap. There's probably nothing you can do about this anomaly. The issue at empty maybe fixable by calibrating the sending unit arm. If it reads empty when its not then you need to lower the float without changing the position of the arm at the sensor and raise it if the gauge indicates you have gas when you're empty.

The other thing to remember before you try making adjustments is that fuel gauges many times were never all that accurate. They have always been a little off in everything I've owned. Given also the age of our Little Darlings you expect them to have a little more inaccuracy.

I just live with mine and make sure I don't get more than 25 miles from a gas station as I apporach reserve. LOL!!!
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miroku800
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FGH

Thats exactly the symptoms but I was of the opinion that it was working better until recently but it could be that I have suddenly got a few more miles to the gallon as the bike has been ridden more it looks like I will have to run it right onto reserve and see where the gauge reads then, I live in hope that it could be much better fuel milage

Regards Rob
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RB
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Just bend the arm to get the readings as it should be.. trial and error though??? just a little bend changes it a lot..
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RB
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Just bend the arm to get the readings as it should be.. trial and error though??? just a little bend changes it a lot..

Or drain the tank..have a gallon or liter jug put that back in and crank her up center the bike and watch the meter..add one jug at a time and note the readings..then you know what's what.
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C
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I cleaned mine with acid followed by contact cleaner. It now shows empty just before I have to hit reserve. Like the other guys say it stays on full for a while after a fill up.
I really just use it to give me a hint when to fill, it's about half now and I'll fill up Friday.
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miroku800
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thanks for that it looks like I will have to run it onto reserve and then decide if it is out
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