2000 21 ss extreme fuel gage problem!

[waynec]

Was in a tourney yesterday and my fuel gage stopped working properly, that morning i put $100 of fuel in it and the gage read 1/2 tank, made a 15 mile run across lake erie and when i got there it read on the empty mark, found no leaks anywheres and i never ran out of fuel all day so i figure it must be the gage or sending unit, when i turn the key off it lays down all the way past the e mark and when i turn the key on it just sits right on the e mark, anyone have any similiar issue or advice.

[Crazy D]

I don't know if your gas gauge has always been like that or if it reads correctly when less than half ,,,,, but .....

I kinda have the same problem too .

My gauge only works contsantly when i am at least half full . If i go below half full it has a mind of it's own . :D

Most times i can get the gauge to read , intermittently , when it is around 1/4 tank .

And then i know it's time to put 6 more gallons in to be over half full :D

I have a Triton btw .

[genxer36]

Same here mine only works when half full. I never trust the gauges anyway.

[boydn1]

New boat owner here. Harleys have always had flakey gauges so I'm used to that (180 miles better be near a pump). With the boat run, fish, run different RPM. How do you figure out milage for lack of a better term?
Thanks

[genxer36]

New boat owner here. Harleys have always had flakey gauges so I'm used to that (180 miles better be near a pump). With the boat run, fish, run different RPM. How do you figure out milage for lack of a better term?
Thanks

Good question. I have no idea.

I don't worry about mpg. I have 2-14 gallon tanks & a 20 gallon tank. I know I can run all day & only use what is in one tank. The most I have ever used on a lake was 14 gallons. And that was motoring all over the lake towing a towable.

[kipp]

If the gauge is working at the dash, and the boat is getting older, Its always the Sending Unit on top of the tank....cheap to buy ...can be hard to install because of the location of the tank...

[jkk]

Hey i I had that same exact propblem with my port tank I fill up one day and the gauge would only go to half then it got to the point that it showed empty the starboard tank worked great same guage. I pulled the sending unit and it was the cork float had finally saturated it's self I cut a pieace of an old cork handle on a rod drill a hole in the middle put it on works like a champ you boat may have plastic floats but it might be worth a look.

[JESTERxHEAD]

cant hurt to clean the contacts on that gage too....can be as simple as a bad/loose ground.... these gages work of resistance thru a 12v system. if it doesnt have the proper ammount of resistance at a given level of fuel the gage will be inaccurate.

hope this helps.

like above first would be sending unit... test the sending unit for proper ohms reading per your shop manual. then I would look twards the gage side of things.

[waynec]

After doing some cheecking i didn't find much, refueled the boat again and now its working fine! Go figure! Thanks for all the responses guyz!:cheers:

[Basshawk]

Had a similar problem with gauge in my old Avalanche. The problem wasn't the wires at the gauge but the ones that went to the sender. They are generally just spade connectors and it doesn't take much corrosion for them to get flaky. Any resistance change will mess up the gauge.
Also had a bad float in another boat. Wine bottle cork worked on that fix.