fuel gauge problem.

[luca28]

:i_need_sn can anyone tell me or sell me a part. my fuel gauge stopped working and i thought it was the gauge. i got another insterment panel on ebay and same problem. i think it's probably electrical.

[AL P]

I`m not fimiliar with the vmax4 gas gauge setup at all, but I`m asumming that there must be a connection plug in of some kind above the tank where the gauges wire/s come out, so have you checked for a bad connection there? about the only thing i can say as far as a gas gauge goes, is it works on ohm/resistance, and if it lost its ground, it would read that you had a full tank. if it lost its main connection ( the wire that goes directly to the sender), it would`nt read anything at all. so just wondering, what is it doing, reading full tank all the time, or always reading nothing?

P.S, you do have gas in it right? LOL, just kidding with ya.

[RedWhiteandBlue]

Like Al said, it works on varying resistence. First make sure there is power to the sending unit on the tank. If there is power then hook up an ohm meter to the sending unit and move the float up and down (might have to remove from tank). The resistance should change as you move it, if it doesn't then the sending unit is bad....Blue

[AL P]

To try to explain, lets look at it as the unti bieng a ground circuit.
there would be "power" going to the gauge, but the gauge would be grounded through the sending unit. the ground wire persay, would come off the gauge, and go to a wire that plugs into the sending unit, then, the gound, would travel through the sending unit, and then back out the tank via another wire, that would be actually grounded somewhere. it works on how "good" so to speak of a ground your getting. when it had full continuity, again so to speak real good ground, it would read empty, when the sending unit makes it only get a very weak ground (very little ohms) it will read full. thats why typicaly on cars for example, if your ground wire breaks off your tank, which often happens on older cars, your fuel gauge will read a full tank. but if your not getting any connection between your fuel gauge and your sending unit, it will read empty. thats why i was wondering what exactly your gauge is reading? either way, I would recomend taking the sending unit out, like rwaboy said, and testing it. just use a ohm meter/continuity tester, and hook it up between the two wires that come off the gauge, and then move the float up and down, and see what happens. sometimes when they go bad, that little spring plate looking thing, will get soft and not be riding on the sending units wire coil looking thing. sorry its kinda hard to describe, but you`d see what I`m sayng if you seen it in person.

[luca28]

thanks ALP for responding. it reads empty all the time. i guess i have time to tear it apart, because there isn't any snow on the ground here in pa. or in neighboring states. to be honest i had maybe 4 sleds groing up they where old polaris cobra's and the newest 1 was a arctic cat jag. so ripping down them old sleds where like, taking a bike apart. i just had to have something newer. and didn't want a new sled. i'm very impressed with this 94 vmax4!! and not at all use to something with 140 hp under the hood. sorry didn't mean to ramble on.

[luca28]

thank you for response. i'll be working on it this weekend. the knowledge is greatly appreciated.

[AL P]

I hope you get it figured out, and its just a bad connection somewhere. But i do want to say again, that my knowledge on fuel gauges/sending units, is based on automobiles, and not the vmax4, but i cant imagine it bieng any differant than pretty much all the other fuel gauges I`ve messed with. anyway, good luck, and let us know what ya find?

[jminor]

Guys on my srx the float used to stick on empty from time to time. It would get stuck around the pick up tube. Start at the simplest thing and see if the float is at the level of the fuel!!