Evolved-8

I have noticed in recent months that the fuel gauge is definitely not right, so last night I did some investigating and am still without an answer.

What is happening is that if I fill the tank.... it reads 1/2 full (or 1/2 empty depending on your viewpoint) and not that long ago you would fill the tank and it would get to full mark, then it eventually only would max out at 3/4 full, and now it never goes above 1/2. So last night I measured the resistance on the left and right side level senders first and then I took them out of the tank. With the fuel level about 2-inches down from the flange where the pump mounts this is what I have for readings:

Drivers sender mounted in tank: 15-ohms
Manipulating manually for full tank: 2.2-ohms
Manipulating manually for empty tank: 36.8-ohms

Passenger side when mounted in tank: 47-ohms
Manipulating manually for full tank: 2.2-ohms
Manipulating manually for empty tank: 74-ohms

I then reinstalled both sides and the readings were identical to what they were before I took them out. And yes, the fuel level was the same on both sides of the tank.

I did have a spare sending unit for the drivers side and checked the arm position... mine was not bent. What is also wacky is that I restarted the car and let it idle for a few minutes.... the fuel level went from 1/2 tank to between 1/2 and 3/4 empty. I do have another gauge cluster to try and see what that does....

Otherwise the car has no electrical or mechanical problems. It is garaged and has never been in any trauma (accident or otherwise).

Later today I was going to check the connector behind the carpeting that ties both sending units as together to see what the output is and make sure it is correct.

I could use some ideas!

ProPilot04

iTrader: (11)

This is honestly out of my scope of practice, but if you've checked the resistance on the sender, and they're within spec (I'm not sure if yours are btw) then the problem would lie where ever the signals are getting decoded. In my head this would be the cluster...

But are we positive those numbers are in spec? Why would the DS and pax side have different empty tank readings?

Evolved-8

That is the spec. I did my research first before posting anything... tech manuals as well as searching this forum--- for whatever reason that is what Mitsubishi did and as far as logic goes--- they are reading right. As soon as I try the other gauge cluster and/or check the wiring to the gauge cluster I will post my findings.

ProPilot04

iTrader: (11)

Interesting... were you ever able to suss out this problem?

Evolved-8

I have not. I was out of town for the past week and a half. There is one other part that I completely forgot about and it will also be interesting to see if it is related... I have a number of lights that are out in my cluster... the strange part in the whole ordeal is the car has 16,000mi on it-- and the part with the lights just came to mind. I am in one way hoping that I can pull the cluster out and put it back in and it magically fixes itself. Otherwise, I will definitely try the other one and post back.