The dancing gas gauge :(

[billowred]

After this last fill up the needle started doing going all over the place. I linked a video (sorry for crappy quality) to show what it's doing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKtFX61aBZw

If you have any suggestions for a way to make the gauge more accurate than stock I'm in.

 

[SunlitComet]

if that was after filling up the tank completely i would say it is the sender that finally gave out but to troubleshoot accurately i need to know what year you have.

 

[billowred]

96

 

[kaoticlife]

wow mine dances but thats more than mine does...mine just vibrates and shifts back and forth a little bit..oh only after half a tank..

 

[billowred]

wow mine dances but thats more than mine does...mine just vibrates and shifts back and forth a little bit..oh only after half a tank..

Yea that's exactly what mine did till now.

 

[SunlitComet]

you need to get a ohm meter set for 100 ohms on the purple wire at any point from tank to cluster and to ground. if needed take the cluster out and undo its connector and use alligator clips or something then drive it again to with the ohm meter response to see if it is still wild. for reference when tank is empty it should read about 0 ohms when empty and 90 when full.

 

[Phone Man]

Could also be the "hummingbird" effect from these gauges. Mine vibrates also. Its is caused by the dampening oil evaporating out of the stepper motor and the pwm signal that the ecm sends. In the link below there is a detailed explanation and a solution if yours is a gauge issue.

http://www.pacificp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8413&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=320

I have changed my fuel pump and the gauge has remained the same. Maybe yours is a sender issue? It usually occurs just out of the blue. There are sites that sell the stepper motors but they are a different type and are for the 2003 and up gauges.

 

[billowred]

Damn you guys know your sh*t! I'll take a look Friday when I have more time. Thanks for all the help.

 

[SunlitComet]

Could also be the "hummingbird" effect from these gauges. Mine vibrates also. Its is caused by the dampening oil evaporating out of the stepper motor and the pwm signal that the ecm sends. In the link below there is a detailed explanation and a solution if yours is a gauge issue.

http://www.pacificp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8413&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=320

I have changed my fuel pump and the gauge has remained the same. Maybe yours is a sender issue? It usually occurs just out of the blue. There are sites that sell the stepper motors but they are a different type and are for the 2003 and up gauges.

for the 1996 year the Pcm has no role in the fuel gauge operation. In fact it did not get "wired" in until 1999 model years.

 

[DirkAFD]

What did you figure out on this? I have a 97 that's doing the same thing but WAY worse. If there was a Full and Half mark, mine could hit it.