<VV> Gauge Accuracy Re: Update on stainless steel fuel sending unit

[FrankCB at aol.com]

Tony and Matt,
    Well I wouldn't trust in believing the absolute  accuracy of the gauge 
anyway.  That reminds me of an experience my late  wife had some years ago 
when she was driving her 89 Chevy Beretta back home from  work.  The car had 
a digital dash so it gave very precise readings.   She called me and told me 
her car had stalled out just a few miles from  home.  When I asked how much 
gas she had she told me the digital reading  was "17 MILES" left in the 
tank.  So I filled up a 2 gallon can of gas and  drove to meet her stalled at 
the side of the road.  The first thing I did  was dump the gas in her tank 
and the her car started right up.  I told her  not to trust the absolute 
accuracy of the gas gauge and fill up before it got so  low.
Frank Burkhard
Boonton, NJ
 
 
In a message dated 11/15/2012 7:37:51 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
tony.underwood at cox.net writes:

At 10:32  PM 11/10/2012, Matt Nall wrote:



>It is my understand that  with 4 gallons in the tank the dash gauge should
>read E (or VERY close  to that).  While the tank (cars) holds 14 gallons, a
>fill up  should require 10 when on E.  The other 4 is/was considered  a
>"reserve" by GM.
>
>Later, JR




I've  noticed that some tank senders do indeed have a section of wiper 
resistor  wire that's replaced with a brass "sleeve" (for lack of a 
better word)  that bypasses the last 1/8 of the wiper travel on the 
sender.  This  could well leave almost 3 gallons or so in the tank 
while making the gauge  read EMPTY.

Some... but not all.  The original sender in the tank  of my '60 was 
like that.  It was kinda unsettling to have the gauge  reading EMPTY 
knowing that there was still some fuel there but how much  was a 
toss-up.  I'd rather the gauge be accurate.  I modified  the sending 
unit to show full when full and empty when in fact  empty.  No 
second-guessing.

I've noticed that *some* (but not  all) later variants of the sending 
unit do NOT give you that much  "reserve", with that same sleeve being 
smaller, but still enough to leave  about a gallon and a half once it 
finally shows EMPTY.   Last  time I filled the tank of the '60 it had 
been showing almost empty, just a  smidgen above the E mark (and no 
longer bouncing around while turning  corners).  It took 11.6 gallons 
to fill it.  Remembering that  the '60 tank holds less than later 
tanks (barely 12 gal.) I took note that  the gauge was still pretty 
accurate.    Personally, I still like  knowing what's actually there 
than playing guessing games once the gauge  bumps down to E.

I also carry a can with a gallon in it in case I end  up not paying 
attention and I run out of fuel.  But that's just me,  being me.


tony..  
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