Fuel Gauge

[David Arnold]

Two questions: the first is easy; how many gallons of fuel does the tank in an MKII hold?  More importantly is my fuel guage recently stopped working and just shows empty.  For someone not the least bit handy with electronics any suggestions on how to track down where the problem lies?

[Ken Heyman]

Dave,

start here:


http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Fuel_Gauge_Failure_and_Diagnosis

good luck,

Ken

[Stu Jackson]

Tank capacity:  check your manual or here on the website, usually 23 gallons; here's the link to the manuals page: http://www.c34.org/manuals/index.htm

Usually most problems are not the gauge, but the sender and/or wiring, as Ken's link suggests.
Here's a link to getting to the fuel sender: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5134.0.html

Learn about your fuel consumption to reduce dependency on the gauge.
Here are a couple of links to earlier discussions on fuel consumption:
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2942.0.html
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,3824.0.html

[Ron Hill]

Dave : I just looked at your MKII Owners Manual and see that you have a 25 gal fuel tank.
I'd pull the port side aft cabin panel and check the positive and negative connections as the first step to getting the fuel gage working.    A few thoughts

[Steve Sayian]

Dave,

Last year my guage was fluctuating so I pulled the tank (needed a cleaning anyway) and buzzed the wires as well as checked the sending unit in the tank.  Wires were 5/5 but the sending unit was out of spec with the required resistance readings so I put in a new unit.  Cost about $25.00 for th kit.  Fit in the exact spot with same holes.  Wired it up and presto, guage is 'spot-on' now.
You can get at the sending unit through the Port locker.  The sending unit is located below the outboard access port.

Hope this helps.

Steve

[arthur]

Dave, Thanks for asking fuel gage stop working question.   Mine stopped the day before I left on my 475 mile cruise.  I used the engine hour meter to keep track of the amount of fuel I used.   This work better than me looking at the gage and guessing how much fuel I needed to fill tank.  However, I will take the advice given you to see if I can get my fuel gage working again.

I have a 34 MKII 1997 and I believe my tank holds 24 gallons.  I burn 0.9 to 1.0 gallons per hour at 1900 to 1950 rpms per hour.

[BillG]

Check the condition of the ground wire first. Most of the time if the ground is off the gauge will read empty. Take the sense wire and touch it to the base of the sender (where the ground wire is) and see if the gauge moves to full. If the gauge moves take the sender out of the tank using an ohm meter move the sender from full to empty watching for the change in ohms as you move the sender from full to empty (put the ohm meter on the base where the ground was and the male tab were the sense wire was).  You should see a reading of 33 to 240 ohms as you move the sender back and forth. If there is no change the sender is bad.

[Ron Hill]

Guys : BTW, in our web site I sent in the Seaward instructions on how to trouble shoot the fuel sending unit.  A thought