1996 850 Turbo Fuel Level Sender Replacement - Drop Tank?

maccampbellsm · Post by **maccampbellsm** » 23 Jul 2014, 06:54

Thanks again for everyone's help here.

Now that the coolant leaks have been addressed and the car is running great time to address the fuel level sender.

The car never shows as full when filling the tank, gauge shows about 14 gallons instead of over the 18 gallon mark. When it gets down to empty it gets WAY below empty, but the low gas warning light and computer miles to zero seems accurate.

I tried taking out the fuel level sender yesterday but could not get the large plastic nut out of the access hole. It did not line up with access hole well enough. It looked to me like it was about half and inch toward the rear of the vehicle. I would have to pry up on the sheet metal trying to make room to get it out, and that seemed way to difficult when i tried. Before I broke something I stopped.

It seems obvious to me that the access hole is there so you don't have to drop the tank. Any tips?

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 23 Jul 2014, 07:47

Since the gauge goes way below zero it sounds to me like an instrument cluster problem. The zero settings on the instrument cluster tend to get messed up when the cluster is disassembled to repair the odometer gears. Even if you didn't repair the odometer gears the chances are that someone did. Recalibrating the cluster is a matter of removing the cluster itself and then removing it from the case.

The odometer gear replacement tutorial in the repair database is a great resource but be aware that you also need to remove the brass nut at the turbo line. Once the cluster is out, manually run the indicator needles to full scale and release them until they make their way back to zero on their own. It may take several tries to get it right. This also applies to the speedometer, the tach, and the temp gauge. At that point re-assemble the cluster and it should be accurate.

...Lee

maccampbellsm · Post by **maccampbellsm** » 23 Jul 2014, 10:08

Ozark Lee wrote:Since the gauge goes way below zero it sounds to me like an instrument cluster problem. The zero settings on the instrument cluster tend to get messed up when the cluster is disassembled to repair the odometer gears. Even if you didn't repair the odometer gears the chances are that someone did. Recalibrating the cluster is a matter of removing the cluster itself and then removing it from the case.

The odometer gear replacement tutorial in the repair database is a great resource but be aware that you also need to remove the brass nut at the turbo line. Once the cluster is out, manually run the indicator needles to full scale and release them until they make their way back to zero on their own. It may take several tries to get it right. This also applies to the speedometer, the tach, and the temp gauge. At that point re-assemble the cluster and it should be accurate.

...Lee

Hmmm. Interesting. The odometer was not working when I got it and the gas gauge was behaving the same. I replaced the gear in the odometer and got that working. I didn't even think to zero the gas gauge. Thanks. I'll try it.