Petrol gauge stuck

[dawolf]

My mate owns a turbo and his petrol gauge marker seems to be stuck at halfway and won't move, it's been like this for a good while. This obviously makes it difficult to work out how much fuel is remaining. Any ideas if or how he can get it fixed?

[jonb-]

The fuel sender guage is in the top of the fuel tank and can be accessed from under the dash.

My understanding is it's a ball and float system which can sometimes get stuck. Pulling it out and giving it a good clean might help.

FYI i've never seen this sendor, just read about it so i could be totally wrong on what it is. I'm right about where it is though

[si2040]

The fuel sender gauge is in the top of the fuel tank and can be accessed from under the dash.

My understanding is it's a ball and float system which can sometimes get stuck. Pulling it out and giving it a good clean might help.

FYI i've never seen this sendor, just read about it so i could be totally wrong on what it is. I'm right about where it is though

yup jon ur right.

[heathy]

wish mine would get stuck on full

[MR2DIE4]

have the same problem, stuck at 3/4, empty tank light works is the weird thing, or is that from anoher sensor than the fuel sender?

replaced the fuel gauge , (204€ !! ) and still the same, think i need to check the sender. hope it doesn't explode...

[osborne0]

The sensor to drive the low fuel light is separate from the sender unit to drive the fuel gauge.

To test the gauge, take the plug off the top of the sender unit - gauge should go to zero. Then short out the 2 outer cables. The gauge should show full (takes a while 1 -2 mins, as the gauge is dampened). The ignition needs to be on for the gauge to change position (up or down).

This worked on mine so next I took out the sender unit and reconnected the wire and moved the sender unit fully up and down and the gauge worked correctly. However, when I put the sender back in, screwed it down and reconnected the wires the gauge showed max. I drove the car for a week and the needle did not move. When I took out the sender unit and put it back in, it stopped just over a quarter of the gauge. It never when higher but would go lower in time (my original fault).

It looks like the sender unit can only be fitted one way, and the sender unit arm looked OK (i.e. not bends or damaged), so has anyone else seen this problem?

[3sgte]

i have had my sender unit get stuck 3 times
each time i just undone the screws in the sender and gave it a tap and done the screws back up but i have since changed the sender because the warning light part stoped working

the sender is one of the simplest things to change on the mr2 , 2x 10mm nuts 5screws and a bit of wiggling and its out ,, it probably takes longer getting the radio surround and ashtray out of the way than actually changing the sender


just be careful when you remove the sender, you will be exposing the fuel vapours to potenetial sparks , best not to smoke , in fact probably wise to disconnect the battery

[mr2sensei]

Hi, My dad has got a toyota avensis and was having trouble with a sticking petrol gauge.
I took the instrument cluster out of the car and took the front perspex face off to gain access to the front of the gauge then moved it up and down GENTLY about ten times. Since then it has worked without any problems.

I would give this a try. Cheers Rob.

[osborne0]

I still have the same problems as in my previous message shown above.

Last week I found a MR2 in a local scrap yard so bought another sender unit. I have the exactly the same fault! - the gauge goes up to just under half a tank when the tank is full but starts dropping once the petrol in the tank goes below half a tank.

Is there something in the tank that would stop the float from going fully up?

[Mr2_NA]

i have had my sender unit get stuck 3 times
each time i just undone the screws in the sender and gave it a tap and done the screws back up but i have since changed the sender because the warning light part stoped working

the sender is one of the simplest things to change on the mr2 , 2x 10mm nuts 5screws and a bit of wiggling and its out ,, it probably takes longer getting the radio surround and ashtray out of the way than actually changing the sender


just be careful when you remove the sender, you will be exposing the fuel vapours to potenetial sparks , best not to smoke , in fact probably wise to disconnect the battery

and do it when the car is cold as the heater pipes go right next to it and make the metal surround very hot. May not light the fuel but it does bloody burn your knuckles

[Lewis Jay]

I still have the same problems as in my previous message shown above.

Last week I found a MR2 in a local scrap yard so bought another sender unit. I have the exactly the same fault! - the gauge goes up to just under half a tank when the tank is full but starts dropping once the petrol in the tank goes below half a tank.

Is there something in the tank that would stop the float from going fully up?

Take you instument cluster out and turn it upside down if the needle goes up and sticks its the needle or gauge unit at fault.

I had this before and it was just the needle not sitting on the pin correctly and would stop at the same point everytime.

You can remove the plastic cover off the front of instrument cluster to access the needles instrument cluster has to be removed though .