Fuel Gages!!

[Ian Jones]

Has anyone got problems with your Fuel Guage??

e.g.
Showing half tank when tank is actully empty!!

What is the cause of this?
How can it be sorted?

Thanks

Ian J

[Nick Hearne]

Dip stick!

[Nasher]

Ian.

Lets consider the facts.

Big fuel tanks that are rarely baffled.
Most are an odd shape to fit the hull.
Ribs Bounce around a lot (If you are driving it the way you should).
The sender is a lever float or vertical float type that only gives a linear reading in a tank with parallel sides.
The height of fuel at the sender changes with the trim of the boat.
The sender terminals will constantly be exposed to Salt water.
The environment in which we use our boats will over time find its way up the wires insulation effecting the resistance of cables.
The fuel Gauge lives outside in all temperatures.
Etc.

As suggested by Nick, a dipstick if you have access is the only safe answer, particularly if your boat is more than a year old.

Nasher.

[danny]

Ian.

In your case i would check the floating piece of your sender inside your tank. Maybe it has come loose or got stuck.
In case of bad wiring it would not give half empty.
Try to empty (realy empty) your tank once a year to get the left water out.
This litlle amound of water sometimes gives rusty parts on the sender.

Dan.

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by Nasher

........As suggested by Nick, a dipstick if you have access is the only safe answer, particularly if your boat is more than a year old.....

Or if you can get to the top of the tank one of these might be good. Des

[jools]

I find the best way to get a fairly acurate fuel usage is to work out your consumption - and then work it out from the GPS log.

eg - RibPanther

90l tank
consumption approx 1l/nm

Therefore if the GPS log shows we've done 45 nauticle miles - we are about half full

I normaly check the log after a days run - tehn fill the tank to full on the way home and its always spot on litres to miles

The guage is just their for show!! - Mine stays full for the first half of the tank - then drops like a rocket!

[Ian Jones]

Thank's for the info guys!

I will check into it


Thank you

Ian J

[swginn]

You could fit a fuel flow meter, this way you'll know how much you've used. The one on my Opti is surprisingly, very accurate, whereas the tank meter generally shows that I've got less fuel than what I actually have, which is no bad thing I suppose.

[Mark Halliday]

I have just seen this featured in PBO.
Pneumatic tank guage
It wont help with a shaped tank, but an interesting concept.
www.sterling-power.com/