Fuel tank sending unit repair

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Fuel tank sending unit repair

Postby v8astregt » Wed Jul 05, 2006 1:36 am

A couple months ago I had my gas tank out while doing the engine swap. I decided I'd try and find a way to fix me sender.


I did some searching and found a company called S. U. R. & R. (Sending Unit Repair and Rebuilding). I gave them a shot. They gave me the address and I shipped it off via UPS. 4 days later I get a call for my billing info since they were done. I ask them when they got it, and they said "This morning"!!! A couple hour turn around time... not bad at all! So 4 days later I get it back, and I throw it back in the tank.

I didn't mention this because I wanted to let you all know if it worked or not. Well I had only a couple gallons in it, and it read empty like it should. Then the other day I filled the tank up, and guess what??? It read FULL! Imagine that!?!?!

Just thought I'd pass the link. I know a fuel gauge is something that many neglect because they don't know how to fix it. Well here is the solution. They can restore any unit, and all it costs is $10 there, $10 back, and $65 to restore it. Not bad! It was well worth that to have a working fuel gauge!


http://www.motorage.com/motorage/classified/classifiedDetail.jsp?id=313155
75 Pontiac Astre GT: 406SBC/TH350, roll bar, S10 goodies, down to 11.47 so far, more to come later.
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Postby geartwister39 » Tue Jul 18, 2006 11:09 pm

man that sure beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick...er i mean the experience i had with auto instruments .com do not try to use them unless you want to be left hanging for 3 months and still have no repair done.
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Postby v8astregt » Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:27 am

Hmmm... sure makes me feel better! autoinstruments.com was one of the other places I was thinking of. I even had them bookmarked! But I somehow decided to go through SUR&R, and I'm VERY happy.

Seriously, I got a call at 10am the morning it was supposed to arrive there, and it was ready to ship back out! Talk about speedy service!
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RE: S.U.R&R

Postby Vega75randy » Tue Aug 01, 2006 1:12 am

This is just what I'd expect from fellow Buckeyes. Thanks for the tip V8astragt. (the place is in Akron, Ohio I'm from Columbus :D )

Livin with the heat 8)
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Postby 77 Spyder » Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:07 pm

I noticed the the 3rd generation camaros' use the same sender. Its not the same float, but the mechanical/electrical part is the same.

I only stumbled on this because I bought a complete unit from a carbed 86 Iroc-Z. I was after the fuel pump, & checked out the sending unit. The coil wrapped section is identical & has the same resistance.

Carl
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Postby steelhead » Sun Sep 02, 2007 5:41 pm

so are these the only options
send original out to be rebuilt
or 3rd gen camaro's sending unit?
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Postby v8astregt » Sun Sep 02, 2007 5:49 pm

yup.
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Postby res0o7eb » Mon Sep 03, 2007 6:23 pm

Josh,
Good info!
The link in your original post is no good. I did find this one, though:
http://www.fuelsender.com/
Is this the same company you used?
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Postby patrick1151 » Fri Sep 21, 2007 11:49 pm

Thanks for the info, my guage in my car doesnt work so if its the sender unit, I know where to get it fixed now.
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Re: Fuel tank sending unit repair

Postby clintjohns » Thu Nov 13, 2008 9:45 am

will this work on all 82-92 camaro bodys with a v8 or is it just the 86 iroc.
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Re:

Postby chaachee » Tue Jul 20, 2010 11:05 am

v8astregt wrote:Hmmm... sure makes me feel better! autoinstruments.com was one of the other places I was thinking of. I even had them bookmarked! But I somehow decided to go through SUR&R, and I'm VERY happy.

Seriously, I got a call at 10am the morning it was supposed to arrive there, and it was ready to ship back out! Talk about speedy service!


I want to warn those with gauge cluster restoration needs who may be considering AutoInstruments that there are likely better (and less frustrating) options out there. I chose AutoInstruments.com because of their mentions (and ads) in magazines but, based on my experience, would never recommend them to others.

My biggest issue with them has been their inability to complete the job on schedule, and properly communicate the timeframe for getting the parts back to me.

Do yourself a favor, save yourself the aggravation and use one of the many other companies that offer gauge restoration services. AutoInstruments is not reliable and should not be trusted with these tasks.

Marc
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Re: Fuel tank sending unit repair

Postby crtaylor7 » Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:21 pm

Is this serious? I have not had a working fuel guage ever since I bought my monza in '87. I bent up my fuel pick up so I can shake it instead of walking. Please reply!!!
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Re: Fuel tank sending unit repair

Postby v8astregt » Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:41 pm

If you can track the original place I had it done, SUR&R, then yes, I would definitely do it.


I had it done what... 4-5 years ago? It still works great. Not one issue with it.
75 Pontiac Astre GT: 406SBC/TH350, roll bar, S10 goodies, down to 11.47 so far, more to come later.
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Re: Fuel tank sending unit repair

Postby chevy art » Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:49 pm

my 75 vega is all apart(no electricity and the gas tank is empty and about to come out for inspection and cleaning. i certainly want the gas guage to work and dont know if it does or doesent. is there any way i can do some sort of test to know if ther sending unit works, or if it doesnt, then i will immediately send it to SUR&R for repairs. thanks art
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Re: Fuel tank sending unit repair

Postby v8astregt » Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:17 pm

Do you have a digital multimeter? If so, great, if not, you can get one for like $15. When you have it, turn the dial to the resistance setting, or the Ohm scale (looks like a horseshoe).

It's pretty simple. Take one probe, and stick it in the terminal of the wire that leads to the fuel sender. There should 3 wires, one fuel sender wire, one for the fuel pump, and I think there's a 3rd ground wire. Trace the wires to see which one connects to the fuel sender potentiometer, which is attached to the float rod. Pretty easy to spot. Anyways, connect one end of the multimeter to that wire, and connect the other to the body of the fuel sender, essentially the ground. Make sure you sand off a nice spot of bare metal to get a good connection.

Once you have those two connected, move the float arm through it's entire swing. A proper unit will have a reading that varies linearly from one extreme to the other. I'm 95% sure this GM sender has a range from 0-90 ohms. My guess is going to be that it will be bad, and show infinite resistance. Then it's time for a rebuild!

Not too hard to do!
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