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1996 gas gauge does not work


ejsegur
10-16-2005, 01:10 PM
Has anyone ever ran into this problem with gas gauge not working. It moves from E to F periodically, but at the sametime it is not registering right. I had it checked and the price is about 350.00. Is there anything out there that I could compare to? Thanks

plathegame
10-23-2005, 10:50 PM
the sending unit is bad.. the sending unit comes w/ the fuel pump as a complate assembly.. i bought a ac delco replacement 1 about a year ago w/ my mech discount it was 175.00... list is about 240.00

i wouldnt replace it w/ a cheap aftermarket go w/ the delco

sprucegoose
11-11-2005, 09:50 PM
On a related subject... The fuel gage on the 98 I just bought is real irregular. In other words, I'll drive for almost 150 mi. before it drops below F and then it moves quite quickly down from there. Is this normal on these Rivs?

The reason it concerns me is that my 98 Tahoe started doing this , progressively getting worse last year. Then the fuel pump just died on us, leaving us stranded on vacation down in SC! Don't want a repeat of that for sure! :(

How common is fuel pump/ sending unit failure in these cars, and how difficult is it to drop the tank and do it yourself? Maybe you don't have to drop the tank, some Caddy's had an access panel to do the operation from what I was told...

plathegame
11-16-2005, 11:55 PM
this seams to be a common gm problem.. on my 2000 silverado 2500hd the gas gauge goes down to e when im idling or sitting at a light than jumps back up when i start moving esp when i have a full tank.. sometimes it will jump up and down at random while driving.. my buddy has a 1999 gmc sierra and his does the same thing..

on my original 95 riv fuel pump assy i would fill it up and it seamed to take from F to 1/2 than it would go from 1/2 to E in about a day or day and a half depending on how far i drove.. it would take about 100 miles to drop off of F

lukedogg
11-17-2005, 06:07 PM
I just got a 1997 Rivi about two weeks ago and once the gas gets below half, the needle jumps around alot. I actually ran out of gas today on my way home from school. I had no idea how much gas I had and I thought I could make it one more day. I was wrong.

sprucegoose
11-17-2005, 08:27 PM
I just got a 1997 Rivi about two weeks ago and once the gas gets below half, the needle jumps around alot. I actually ran out of gas today on my way home from school. I had no idea how much gas I had and I thought I could make it one more day. I was wrong.

Wow, that sucks! :( I'll have to keep that in mind... How many gallon tank is this anyway? I ran it down to 1/4 tank yesterday, and I think I put in about 15.1 gallons.

lukedogg
11-17-2005, 10:04 PM
Wow, that sucks! :( I'll have to keep that in mind... How many gallon tank is this anyway? I ran it down to 1/4 tank yesterday, and I think I put in about 15.1 gallons.

I saw that it had a 20 gallon tank somewhere, but it took less than 19 when I filled it back up today.

trapped
02-09-2006, 11:04 PM
OK everyone, I spent 2 weeks on my fuel-gauge when I first bought my '97 Riv S/C... I've got the total poop for you!

Yes, these sending units are integral with the spring-loaded fuel-pump assemblies for these cars. However, especially with the supercharged cars that have a fuel-pump speed-control module in the upper-left side of the trunk (near the emergency fuel-door release), that only run full-speed when you're getting on it, the pumps last much longer that the sending units, and it's a cryin' waste of money to replace the whole $300+ unit!

The worst problem is that the FACTORY manuals have the wiring colors mixed up, which is why it took me so long to find this simple problem...
Despite being mounted with a heavy-duty brass/bronze bushing, the swing-arm for the gauge-float gets loose, so it makes intermittent contact with the little circuit-board that acts as the "coil-rheostat"... My gauge kept reading full most of the time.

However, if you go thru the trunk and remove the whole assembly, you can remove various pins (caution) and wires and take the sending unit assembly off the pump assembly.

After that, you can carefully remove the 'rheostat' circuit-board and just bend the swing-arm contact of the arm farther toward where the board normally sits!
This gives you a tighter fit for conductance, and my gauge has been perfect ever since I did this procedure a year ago...

Not only am I doing fine, with a very accurate gauge that matches each hash-mark for a gallon (16), the later manuals correct our tank capcity from 20 to 18 or so... I ran mine dry, and could only fit 17.5 gallons in it, and allowing for some reserve, the 16-gallon for 16 hash-marks works very well.

I hope this solves a lot of frustration out there,:licka:
Mark Eldo > Rivi

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Has anyone ever ran into this problem with gas gauge not working. It moves from E to F periodically, but at the sametime it is not registering right. I had it checked and the price is about 350.00. Is there anything out there that I could compare to? Thanks[/quote]

84accord
03-19-2006, 11:21 PM
"trapped" is exactly right. The tiny metal fingers get bent and no longer make contact. Poor design. Good sensors have spring loaded pins, not tiny fingers. Just rebuilt the pump assembly on my 97 Riviera. There is a supplier in Miami FL with the parts very well priced. The sensor assembly they call a "floater" (about $30)

Kit: SAP-EP240PIN WITH FLOATER (complete kit w/pump)

Mr. Fuel Pump Inc. (E-Bay)
5220 NW 72 ave Bay#7a
Miami, FL 33166
United States

"I have no relation to Mr. Fuel pump and sell nothing"

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