Fixed the gas gauge for $37
#1
Fixed the gas gauge for $37
I am sure, at some point, SOMEONE has done this repair but i figured I would post my experience. Anyway I bought a full fuel pump assembly off ebay, new, for $37 dollars. The object here was to throw my racetronix pump into it because i was unsure if i had a possibly bad FPR and my gas gauge was being stupid. It held pressure fine but it bled off almost instantly. In the back of my head I figured it was the check valve in the pump butttttt the previous owner did this install before I bought it so I figured let me take a look at it.
So I got it out and examined it. The install was just fine and it looked good. I went to swap the pump over and realized this cheap unit uses a tiny *** pump and the racetronix one wouldn't even fit the cradle assembly...bummer. This new assembly has the new GM connection and an FPR (came with the harness and everything too) so i was a little disappointed but for $37 dollars it is what it is. Then I decided, what the hell, let me try swapping over the new float and the the sender assembly off the side of the cradle. It's held on by a clip and it slides right off, then you need to pull the pins out of the harness (easy with a safety pin). I put the new gauge sender on my old sending unit and installed the new float arm. The clip is slightly different then the original but it works just fine using the new clip on the old assembly (the original goes in from the bottom and the new one goes in from the top). I put it back in the tank and bingo....gas gauge works. I never searched to see if you can buy the float/gas gauge thing separately, if you can then the whole point of this thread is moot...unless its more than $37 ha.
Below is a picture of what I mean. This is an example but this is the old gauge sender on the new assembly I wound up not using. The clip that I reference is circled.
fuel gauge sender clip
This was all done on a 2002 Trans Am fyi.
So I got it out and examined it. The install was just fine and it looked good. I went to swap the pump over and realized this cheap unit uses a tiny *** pump and the racetronix one wouldn't even fit the cradle assembly...bummer. This new assembly has the new GM connection and an FPR (came with the harness and everything too) so i was a little disappointed but for $37 dollars it is what it is. Then I decided, what the hell, let me try swapping over the new float and the the sender assembly off the side of the cradle. It's held on by a clip and it slides right off, then you need to pull the pins out of the harness (easy with a safety pin). I put the new gauge sender on my old sending unit and installed the new float arm. The clip is slightly different then the original but it works just fine using the new clip on the old assembly (the original goes in from the bottom and the new one goes in from the top). I put it back in the tank and bingo....gas gauge works. I never searched to see if you can buy the float/gas gauge thing separately, if you can then the whole point of this thread is moot...unless its more than $37 ha.
Below is a picture of what I mean. This is an example but this is the old gauge sender on the new assembly I wound up not using. The clip that I reference is circled.
fuel gauge sender clip
This was all done on a 2002 Trans Am fyi.
#2
Launching!
My fuel gauge was working, but I noticed that my fuel level sensor fingers were pretty worn when I replaced my fuel pump. Since they don't make one for my particular car, I found a new fuel level sensor that was for another vehicle that swept with the same resistance values. Info in link below.
Replacement fuel level sensor
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...ferrerid=25107
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Replacement fuel level sensor
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...ferrerid=25107
.