Fuel gauge question?

[XJEEPER04]

ok, I went on vacation for a while (6 weeks) and my 89 xj 4.0 was parked the hole time. I left and the damn gas gauge worked I come home and it sits pointing straight to the right like its way passed full? Anyone have idea's? I thought that it might have just got stuck so I pulled the hole dash apart and moved it....but no matter were I move it to it still goes back to the same spot? I really need help on this one it really sucks not knowing how much fuel you have!!! Does it have a sensor or something? I'm really not even sure how they work! Thanks alot for any help

 

[XJ_MAC]

The pick up in the gas tank is probably stuck.

 

[XJEEPER04]

Do you know how to unstick it?

 

[RichP]

Yes, drive it around, once the tank goes low the float should drop when you hit a good bump. Good reason to go off roading a bit or whack a few potholes , the pivot probably dried out.
I have a 98 and have not trusted nor used the gas gauge in mine since about 50K. I live by the trip odometer and there is this one hill that goes up blue mountain where if it's down to 2 gallons it will start to starve on one particular corner.

 

[XJEEPER04]

thanks.....you live in effort???I used to live in effort

 

[Backdraft]

you might wanna try checking the electrical contact somewhere in there. mine did this once, and lookinkin at the gauge is was about a half a tank past the full mark. The bad contact on mine was the plug at the back of the gauge cluster. This might not be your problem but its worth checking out. HTH

Mike

 

[90red]

My 90 xj had that same problem. I replaced the fuse and it hasnt done it since. I know it sounds funny, but, its a cheap attempt at fixing it. Good luck.

 

[Eagle]

My 90 xj had that same problem. I replaced the fuse and it hasnt done it since. I know it sounds funny, but, its a cheap attempt at fixing it. Good luck.

Which fuse? I'm working on an '88 with this problem and I was just about to crawl under and remove the fuel pump and sending unit. I'd not like to do that if it isn't the problem.

 

[GoalPoster]

I've got a 98 XJ and the fuel gauge hasn't worked properly in three years.

I gauge my fuel consumption by the trip odometer . . . . I stop and fill up after every 500 km (300 mi).

It reads OK when full, but anything pasts half a tank is unreliable.

Anyone have the same problem and a fix for this?

 

[90red]

Fuse

Eagle,

I replaced a fuse in the fuse box under the dash on the drivers side. I am not familiar with the 88 workings, but I would like to think they werent all that different. Sorry I didnt specify the first time. Good Luck.

 

[RichP]

The 98's had crummy senders on the fuel pump and a bad connection on the back of the instrument panel. To find out which it is you need to remove the instrument panel and clean the two plugs in the back, pull the connectors off, clean the pins then 'tweak' them a bit so that they hold tighter. That also fixes the loss of instrument panel stuff, spedo drops to 0, odometer stops counting and the airbag light comes on and stays on till you hit the right bump in the road. As I understsand the sender it is painted on the pump and the stuff comes off leading to bad readings, fix is the replacment of the pump with its sender, $300 fix...
I use the odometer too

 

[dmillion]

Interesting. When I got my '01 new the gas guage worked perfectly. I mean, if it said 3/4 full and I stopped to fill it up it would take exactly 5 gallons. If it said 1/4 full it would take exactly 15 gallons.

Now that it's a couple of years old it seems to stay near full for a long time after I fill it. Then, when it gets down to about the half mark, if I fill the tank it will take 13-14 gallons, so obviously it's way lower than half full.

 

[GoalPoster]

Re: Fuse

The 98's had crummy senders on the fuel pump and a bad connection on the back of the instrument panel. To find out which it is you need to remove the instrument panel and clean the two plugs in the back, pull the connectors off, clean the pins then 'tweak' them a bit so that they hold tighter. That also fixes the loss of instrument panel stuff, spedo drops to 0, odometer stops counting and the airbag light comes on and stays on till you hit the right bump in the road. As I understsand the sender it is painted on the pump and the stuff comes off leading to bad readings, fix is the replacment of the pump with its sender, $300 fix...
I use the odometer too

If it's gonna cost me $300, I'm sticking with the odometer method as well.

With respect to the dash thing, a good whup upside that puppy and everything works again!!