'88 Sabre 30-III Fuel Gauge Problem

[Duke Taylor]

Aloha! I have a 30 foot Sabre-III and the fuel guage is inop. I have traced and cleaned all contact points between the tank and the guage as well as the three posts on the guage itself. I am wondering if anyone has had an experience like this. I am wondering if it is the sending unit in the tank (stainless) or the guage itself. Any ideas?

[Vasco]

Sender might be stuck. Open it up and check.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Sender might be stuck. Open it up and check.

+1. Highly likely the sender, and on an older boat it is probably terminal.

You can replace the sending unit relatively easily & inexpensively, but if you want something that will work longer term, and more accurately, consider something like a "Tank Tender" system (and can be used to monitor levels in your other tanks too).

[Steve W]

+2 on stuck sender. Remove from top of tank, free up the arm and install.

[Sailmonkey]

Get a multi meter and measure the resistance on the sender, usually somewhere between 240 and 33 ohms.

short out the sender terminal on the gauge to ground. Does the needle move? if not it's the gauge or the power to the gauge.

Is there power to the gauge?

[Curmudgeon]

The fuel gauge on my Bristol 38.8 was inaccurate. Before I had it repaired, I used a wooden yardstick ($1.39 at Amazon.com) dropped down into the fill hole to determine how much diesel was left. Since I know my tank is 36 gallons and rectangular, it was pretty easy to guestimate how much fuel was left.

Come to think of it, I probably shouldn't have bothered to pay to have the gauge repaired.

[GordMay]

Per ➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...sting-645.html

Testing Fuel Guages:

1. Disconnect Pink Sender Wire from Gauge, and turn power ON.
The Fuel Gauge should read ZERO Scale (< Empty)

2. Short the Gauge Sender Terminal to Ground.
The Gauge should read FULL Scale (> Full).

3. Measure resistance of Pink Sender Wire to Ground.
American Floats: 240 Ohms (Empty), 103 Ohms (½ Full), & 33 Ohms (Full)
European Floats: 10 Ohms (Empty), 95 Ohms (Half), & 180 Ohms (Full)
Automotive & other Float Switches may use other resistances such as 0 - 90 Ohm, 73 - 10 Ohm, & etc.

4. Disconnect Pink Wire from Sender on Engine Block.

5. Test continuity of Pink Wire.
Zero Ohms from Block End to Gauge End - If not, repair or replace Wire.

6. Measure Resistance from Sender Terminal (on Block) to Ground on Block.
Should read as per (3) above - If not, replace Sender.

[Duke Taylor]

Thank all of you!!! I will follow each one and will get back and let everyone know how it turned out.

[bobconnie]

One thing to remember if the sending unit is the SW type it has 3 screws holding it to the tank! and these screw holes are not even, they are offset!! make sure ya get them back in the right holes cus if ya mess up they leak like hell !! saw a composite boat that damn near lost the bottom fiberglass off the boat cus some yard worker replaced the sending units and got the screws wrong and in a rough sea they leaked about 50 gals of diesel into the bilge!! just sayin mark em before ya remove em !!