The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

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mattswinn
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The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by mattswinn »

Hello everyone. Like many other Capri owners, i had a dodgy fuel gauge. I did a bit of research and found the standard voltage regulator fix that everyone seems to be doing, so tried this and it still didn't work. However i was getting a much more stable voltage with the new regulator. Next i tested the gauge by putting the two sender wires together and sure enough the gauge worked perfectly fine. I knew the problem now lied with the actual fuel sender unit, which was bad news because as I'm sure your aware, these things are bloody hard to find, and there not usually cheap when they do come up!

After doing some more research i saw a post regarding cleaning up all the electronic contact points within the sender and this seemed to work for some people, however when i removed mine, my sender was pretty much destroyed, so i decided to go a step further with a full restoration of the fuel sender.

Firstly i needed to syphon the tank, a quick boot round the bypass and some hose and the tank was soon enough drained. I fabricated a tool with a block of wood and 2 bolts that fit perfectly into the notches on the sender, a hard 90 degree turn later the fuel sender was finally out. I used a small screwdriver to disassemble the unit so i could find the problem area..

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It was not long after doing this that i soon found why i had no reading on the gauge. The rheostat section of the sender unit was completely ruined...

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The way the sender works is there is a coil of wire which creates a resistance which is low at one end and high at the other. When the float is at the top of the tank, when its full, the resistance is lower, when the tank is empty, float at the bottom, the resistance is high. We'll come back to this later. I began restoring the unit by removing all the rust from the sender, a bit of hammerite rust remover gel...

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and then some black paint...

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and she was as good as new.. Now back to the coil... i began removing the old wire.. whilst doing so i used a vernier calliper to measure the thickness of the wire i removed

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When i was doing my research i found out that i needed to get around 20 ohms for full and 75 ohms when empty. I was able to find some Kanthal A1 0.15mm resistance wire at 88ohms a metre. A perfect replacement... I measured up to 85 ohms with a multimeter and cut that section off the reel, soldered it to the input wire and began winding the new coil...

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Take note that none of the wire can touch itself as this will create shorts and an incorrect reading! When i wound the coil, i connected up the multimeter and read it at the start of coil, i got 16.5 ohms and at the end, 81.8 ohms... close enough - we can fine tune it later...

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When i was happy with the resistance, i used some 2 part epoxy (it said it was fuel proof on the packet) and glued the back and sides of coil in place so it wouldn't slip! Don't put any glue on the front of the coil... we still need that electrical connection ;)

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Once it had dried, i put the assembly back together..

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Now the two little "flaps" near the float arm are used to restrict the movement of the float to dial in the sender. I connected my meter to the sender and bent the flaps in slightly until it read 20 ohms for full, and 75 ohms for empty, only a small adjustment was needed.

I was happy she was all fixed so i put it back into the fuel tank, with some new bullet connectors on the wires of course, filled the tank (i only had like 20 - 25 odd litres) and hit the road, soon enough the fuel gauge fired up and was working perfectly!

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I have since brimmed the tank since i completed this sender project and she works perfect! Nice and accurate! I know a lot of people don't really bother with a fuel gauge, as it is a very common problem, but I'm someone who doesn't rest until the finest details of my car are perfect..

If anyone needs help, or would like there fuel sender restoring, get in contact with me.

Thanks for reading :D
Last edited by mattswinn on Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

Hi,
Fantastic. Your detailed write-up of this much requested repair procedure is certain to help many Capri owners. Thank you very much for taking the time to post this.

Andrew.
Last edited by Andrew 2.8i on Thu Sep 11, 2014 7:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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markske67

Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by markske67 »

Hi,
great write up you've made. This will be handy for those who want to repair a non working fuel gauge. Excellent stuff
cheers,
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by A17 LTF »

What would you charge to restore one?
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Caprifan Rob »

That's excellent. Had the same problem with ours, but we cheated & unwound one full turn where we could see a break & soldered it back together. Gauge works fine until the last 1/4 tank where the reading drops quickly.
Yours is a much better solution & will last years. Top marks for having the patience to re-wind the whole thing.
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Big Mike »

Brilliant stuff this...... I'd be interested in having mine done too if you're happy to take orders!
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by mattswinn »

Big Mike wrote:Brilliant stuff this...... I'd be interested in having mine done too if you're happy to take orders!
Hi Guys, if anyones interested in having there sender restored, i would do it for you for £35. That would include postage to get it back to you and would take around 5 days to complete the repair.

PM me for more details.
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by pbar »

I was going to suggest that you offer to repair them matt. That's a very decent cost also, nice one.
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Big Mike »

:agree:

As Pbar says that's a more than fair price in my opinion, PM sent :)
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by zakumwest »

Well done mate very impressed !
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by atomic4 »

Excellent work you've done there. Anything useful to keep our capris on the road. Nice one!. :D
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Jim »

You beautiful, beautiful man you. Very helpful, finally someone to get them restored!
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by dan the capri fan »

this is a fantastic thread really detailed. ill definitely keep you in mind when mine eventually goes. :)
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Rslambs »

:) this is exactly what I need
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by pbar »

They are about to be remanufactured hopefully. See here -

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=48275
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Major_Tom »

Hey Matt is your fuel gauge needle two tone? Or is it a shadow?
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

Major_Tom wrote:Hey Matt is your fuel gauge needle two tone?
Hi,
It does look two-tone white/orange, doesn't it?

Andrew.
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Hollyoak »

mattswinn wrote:
Big Mike wrote:Brilliant stuff this...... I'd be interested in having mine done too if you're happy to take orders!
Hi Guys, if anyones interested in having there sender restored, i would do it for you for £35. That would include postage to get it back to you and would take around 5 days to complete the repair.

PM me for more details.
Hi Matt, fantastic work you've done there, and to offer that service at that price is amazing,
You obviously enjoy what you're doing because you're not going to get rich, full credit too you,

Best Regards
Dave
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by mattswinn »

Thanks to everyone who's commented and PM'd me for a fix. If I'm not tinkering with something I'm not happy :D.

- oh and the needle is orange, not 2 tone.. i think it was the way the picture was taken :)
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Re: The Ultimate Fuel Gauge Sender Fix / Resto!

Post by Burtr »

Hi. Are you still fixing these sender? Thanks
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