Fuel gauge needle flickering

[Keshav Sabharwal]

My fuel indicator jumps around almost half an inch as soon as I hit a bump or drive on an uneven surface. Is there is 'simple' fix to this annoying problem? Im never quiet sure how much fuel is infact in the tank. I'd also like to mention my gratitude and thanks to all the members for their expertise and immediate responses. Keshav

[Richard Madison]

Maybe someone has a better answer but my gauge moves around as the road changes. When going uphill or downhill the gauge pointer changes with the grade.

I don't recall seeing the pointer jump on a bump but I'm not sure I've ever looked at the gauge while going over a bump.

If an up or downgrade moves the pointer, I wait till I get back to level ground to estimate the fuel level.

I always assumed this was normal since the gauge sender is a float and moves about as the fuel sloshes back and forth according to the road grade.

If your pointer jumps but returns to a correct level, it doesn't seem to be a serious problem.

If the pointer stays in a "jumped" position then more advice is needed here. The float might need to be removed and cleaned or possibly replaced...wait for others to comment...and be sure to use a brass tool to loosen the float compartment cover...a spark would be most unwelcome.


Richard M, NYC

[Naj ✝︎]

Unlike 280s where the sensor float moves up and down in an enclosed tube, the earlier fuel sender units have a 'swimmer float' in the open tank and reacts to changes in level as you go up or down hill or indeed around corners.
On the level though, these gauges are quite accurate.
Changing the sender unit to a later type is not a simple matter either.
Relevent topic in wiki:

http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Fuel.SenderUnit

naj

[jameshoward]

The needle on my '66 is pretty stable until about half of the petrol in the tank is consumed, at which point it wavers around a lot if bumpy. However, it becomes more stable again once down to about a 1/4 of a tank.

Fascinating. Sort of.

JH

[Rolf]

I have the newer sending unit and it stills moves around. The only time it doesn't is when the tank is either near full or near empty. It reminds me of the older VW bug's gas guage.