YoYoing fuel gauge

[YellowVan]

Hi all,
My fuel gauge has just today started to YoYo; sometimes it reads zero then all of a sudden jumps back and forth to its correct level, then works for a while then back to the YoYoing and zero. Is this likley to be a faulty fuel sender (arrrhh just bought a new one for my mini) or does it sound like an electrical problem like a bad connection somewhere. Any thoughts people?

Cheers Yellowvan

 

[Steve Hennessey]

Remove the wire from the sender and earth it and get someone to check the gauge. It should read full. If the terminals look corroded then clean them and see if it still plays up. If so, it's a new sender gauge that's needed.

 

[Steve Hennessey]

I mean sender unit - had a hard day at work!!!

 

[angel]

It is due to a momentary incontinuity somewhere in the circuit. As Steve said you should first check the terminals for corrosion,first on the sender (you should remove or at least lower the fuel tank!).The cable has a junction just behind the spare wheel and also at the junction block near the steering column. If all those contacts are ok the cause is the sender unit,either because of corrosion between the float arm and body, or because the brush arms lose their tension over the resistance wire. In all cases it can be repaired (with sufficient patience).

 

[YellowVan]

Had some fun in the rain under the car today, traced the wire from the sender and found a chocolate block connection that had not been wheather proofed and was covered in wet mud etc, hardly supprising as it is under he car so cleaned it up and put a new block on. So far it seem to be working okay, time will tell but think it is now sorted.
Thanks for all the replys chaps.
Yellowvan