fuel sender

[joseph m. hahnl]

My fuel sender seems to be malfunctioning. It appears to be a Moeller . The problem just started yesterday. I took it out to see if may be it was sticking. What I found was the sensitivity of the reader didn't match the sight gauge on the sender it self. When I moved the float arm, the range of motion was huge but the gauge hardly moved.The gauge did work through the hole range of motion. It just seems there is way to much back lash on the reader.It has a 1/4 of a tank on the sight gauge yet reads almost empty on the dash fuel gauge.

I'm not sure if the sender is original I would say it is.The tank is an 1987 aluminum AFI (Aluminum Fabrication Inc) in a 1988 minx.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated

[thescooter]

check to see if you have a good ground, in out words is the connection clean bright etc. also purchase a ohm meter to check you connections. if all checks out get a new sending unit. you already have the sending unit out of the tanks thats half the fix. thescooter

[Trueser]

do a search on fuel senders.

The original sending units from that era are still made.

[MOP]

I second the tank ground.

[David Ochs]

Joseph,
I fought with poor accuracy on my old '69 forever. Replaced the gauge, readings seemed okay from the sender. Finally gave up and bought the Faria flowmeter. Although there are better ones on the market, it is affordable. It works okay and is a hellava lot better than what I had. It gives instant gph, fuel used and fuel remaining. Installation is fairly simple also.

Dave

[BigGrizzly]

My gage is also useless after 1/2 tank Luck is that my Lowrance GPS dash mount is set up to accept a flow meter. So Like David I put it on befor Cumberland. It is with in 1/2 a gallon at 30 gallons and with 2->3 miles per gallon that is really close. Since it is on the GPS it also does mpg, GPH gallons left, gallons per season(not for the wife) gallons left in the tank and a low fuel alarm. And it was around a $50 add on 4 years after I bough the GPS. This is way to cool.
David I hope you have been well-we still miss you at Eufaula.

[MOP]

An important note about flow meters, they restrict flow that is proven. OMC would not honor warantees on boats that burned pistons, we made money installing and removing them. Now don't get me wrong they are great for cruising, but can be a problem on boats that's engines require a goodly amount of fuel while running top end.

[BigGrizzly]

Now I know that MOP knows that I don't do anything to jeopardize my engine. So I will elaborate. Yes OMC did this and for good reason, there was some real junk out there due to stupidity. When you get a system now it is your responsibility to look at the fuel flow and pressure decrease. Now Floscan sells units by HP rating. The Freia is too small for my engine and Floscan is too expensive-$800. The Lowrance flows accurately 45gph. and drops fuel pressure about 1 psi at 40gph. I took the sender to work-remember we sell water pumps, and had an engineer friend figure it out then put it on the flow meter, after I machined up some adapters. I found that the math equasion and the sender were very close. The sender actually will flow a lot more fuel at 7 psi suction. and since I can get much more 15 psi from suction the pump, At this point I am safe. My plan was two senders in parallel if one was too small and tell the GPS two engines and one tank, you can do this with the unit. BTW I have a 1/2 inch pick up and fuel line too. BTW I have over 690 HP that will use 310 pounds of fuel per hour at wfo.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

An important note about flow meters, the restrict flow that is proven. OMC would not honor warantees on boats that burned pistons, we made money installing and removing them. Now don't get me wrong they are great for cruising, but can be a problem on boats that's engines require a goodly amount of fuel while running top end.

That is what I ran across years ago (1970s). I had installed a Floscan which limited the top end fuel amount even though it should have been a large enough system. I would guess that the newer sensors don't restrict the fuel as much, but I am now leary from my early experience. I can say that they are very interesting in that you can quickly find your best speed for maximum MPG. Bill

[BigGrizzly]

I ran into the issue in the 1970 issue on a dyno cooked a bb Ford. Now almost all cars are equipped with some sort of device. The other thing is a manual 7 psi pump only does that! You need to have more suction to get the correct pressure. My sender is located on the suction side and I have no reurn to the tank FYI.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

My fuel sender seems to be malfunctioning. It appears to be a Moeller . The problem just started yesterday. I took it out to see if may be it was sticking. What I found was the sensitivity of the reader didn't match the sight gauge on the sender it self. When I moved the float arm, the range of motion was huge but the gauge hardly moved.The gauge did work through the hole range of motion. It just seems there is way to much back lash on the reader.It has a 1/4 of a tank on the sight gauge yet reads almost empty on the dash fuel gauge.

I'm not sure if the sender is original I would say it is.The tank is an 1987 aluminum AFI (Aluminum Fabrication Inc) in a 1988 minx.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated

Joseph,
If you need a new sending unit, you might look at this type with no bouncing of the reading. I bought one for my 1971 18' restoration, but I have not installed it yet so I can not say much about it. You can cut off the extra length if need be and it has two calibration settings on the top. If it works like I think it will, I will be getting one for my AC Shelby Cobra car to eliminate the gauge bounce from the typical float type sending unit. Bill

http://shopping.rexmar.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CENCGF-12&Category_Code=centroid

[MOP]

Bill that looks like a very nice item, a big plus is you will have a good linear reading. Swing arm senders only read correctly a 1/2 tank!!!!

[joseph m. hahnl]

Joseph,
If you need a new sending unit, you might look at this type with no bouncing of the reading. I bought one for my 1971 18' restoration, but I have not installed it yet so I can not say much about it. You can cut off the extra length if need be and it has two calibration settings on the top. If it works like I think it will, I will be getting one for my AC Shelby Cobra car to eliminate the gauge bounce from the typical float type sending unit. Bill

http://shopping.rexmar.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CENCGF-12&Category_Code=centroid



Thanks every one for your input:yes:


The float less sender looks like it will do the trick:party:

The key words were "The same screw pattern":worthy:

That was one of the things I noticed. There was one hole tricked off the bolt circle "They are not equally spaced":doh:
I thought I might have been locked in to another Moeller.

[Conquistador_del_mar]

Thanks every one for your input:yes:


The float less sender looks like it will do the trick:party:

The key words were "The same screw pattern":worthy:

That was one of the things I noticed. There was one hole tricked off the bolt circle "They are not equally spaced":doh:
I thought I might have been locked in to another Moeller.

That was the same thing that grabbed my attention, but worst case scenario is that you could always drill the same pattern as the tank in the sender flange which would still seal. I will install mine tomorrow and report if there is any problem. (not that my tank has the same hole pattern as yours, but I think they are somewhat standardized). Bill

[Conquistador_del_mar]

That was the same thing that grabbed my attention, but worst case scenario is that you could always drill the same pattern as the tank in the sender flange which would still seal. I will install mine tomorrow and report if there is any problem. (not that my tank has the same hole pattern as yours, but I think they are somewhat standardized). Bill

As promised, I installed the new floatless sending unit today with no problems. The asymetrical bolt pattern was the same as my old 1971 tank. I had to cut off a little less than 2" to make it fit to the bottom of the tank. You will need some 1.25" #10x32 thread screws if your is threaded the same as mine. The new sending unit comes with a cork gasket, but no screws. I sealed the gasket in mine with Permatex aviation gasket caulking although the gasket alone would probably have done the trick. It has two calibration screws requiring a very small phillips head screwdriver and the instructions come with the unit. Bill

[Greg Guimond]

ttt for Centroid fuel tank senders. Anyone have additional feedback?

[gcarter]

Centroid is the brand of programable sender that Bob (Tidbart) has been supplying.
I think he's sold 15-20 so far.

[Greg Guimond]

ahhh, thanks let me check his thread out.