houdel

Got my my new fuel gauge from Saturn and installed it today. Just as a matter of curiosity and thoroughness, I did some voltage checks during the installation. Measured the voltage at wire 27 (power supply to the fuel gauge) got 25V as expected. Connected wire 27 to the fuel gauge and read the voltage at pin 28 of the gauge (the fuel sender connection) - only got got 6.65V, this is NOT what I expected! According to the diagnostic in the -361 TM, wire 28 should read "battery voltage". However, my old gauge, which would only read between 5/8s and full, read only 2.4V at pin 28, so I guess more is better! The new gauge read full with wire 28 disconnected from the sender and empty with wire 28 grounded, both proper readings according to the TM.

When I connected wire 28 to the sender, the fuel gauge read 3/8th full. I sticked the tank and estimated I had 20.6 gallons of fuel in the tank - close enough to 3/8th of a tank, if there were 50 USEABLE gallons of fuel in the tank. So I guess in that respect my new fuel gauge is reading correctly and my problem is solved.

HOWEVER, my in tank fuel pump runs out of fuel when there still is 10 gallons in the bottom of the tank, so I only have 40 USEABLE gallons when the tank is filled to the mark on the outside of the tank. When my gauge gets down to 1/4 tank I still have 12.5 gallons in the tank, but only 2.5 USEABLE gallons. So I guess I have to either fuel up when I get down to 1/4 tank on the gauge, or figure out a way to get my tank pickup about 2" lower in the tank so I can make use of that extra 10 gallons in the bottom of my tank!