Gas\Fuel Gage not working

Ogedei · Post by **Ogedei** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:10 am

So my friend has a senior citizen freind with a Terc. The terc's fuel gauge is not working. Other than the polyether amine fuel additives treatment I found here are there other options? Fuses burned out?

Any ideas?

The senior probably can not afford to put 5.99 extra into each tank until the corrosion is gone and who is to say that is the real problem.

2wagons · Post by **2wagons** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:46 am

Both of my wagons had bad fuel gauges (my current one still has a bad gauge). I found the problem in both cases was corrosion on the windings and metal contactor in the sending unit itself. You can easily pull the unit and open the metal box that houses the sending windings. In my unit there is a little piece of metal that is attached to the float that slides along the windings. A small hole has developed in the metal piece and it does not contact the windings. When the float sinks enough (less gas in tank), the metal piece contacts the windings and I get a signal in the fuel gauge. Thus my gauge shows about half full until the float sinks low enough to contact the windings and the gauge will then work until empty.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:39 am

Mine reads full accuratly, then is inaccurate until half.

Mosquito · Post by **Mosquito** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 10:06 am

My gauge reads full, then drops quickly to just under half, then stays there until the tank is actually just under half full, then goes down accurately.

Last Toyota I had a gauge problem with, it turned out to be the contacts on the wire leading to the sending unit--I cleaned them up (lift carpet in back, disconnect, clean any corrosion) and the gauge worked fine after that. If your cargo area gets damp regularly, that's a good opportunity for corrosion to form on the contacts.

Haven't had time to try it with the Terc, but it's on the list.

Ogedei · Post by **Ogedei** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:37 pm

I forgot to add that I do feel the Chevron Techron stuff works. The pathfinder I own came to me through my wife when we got married. It never read higher than 3/4 of a tank. Over the 3 years we have been married and using only Chevron gas the tank registers up to 7/8 tank and slowly climbing.

But I will look for the sensor and see how hard it is to take out and clean.
Thanks