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I have a 1997 Chevy Blazer 2-Door with the 4.3L engine. I have been having an issue with the fuel gauge not being accurate. It seems to be the most accurate when I fill up until I use slightly above a half a tank of fuel. The longer I drive the vehicle once it has reached slightly about a half a tank of fuel remaining in the tank the gauge starts to drop fast and only shows ¼ tank remaining when I still have 9 gallons remaining. Yesterday I did a lot of extra driving and it even went all the way to empty mark when I still have over 9 gallons of gas left in the tank. In the morning after the Blazer has been sitting over night the gauge reads accurate to what I feel should be in the tank but quickly starts to drop as it warms up and/or I start to drive. To me it sounds like the resister is bad on the tank sending unit. I am planning on trying a new pump sending unit but I don’t want to spend a ton on a new one. I hate to even mess with it since it runs so good but, this fuel gauge is bothering me and I would like it to work again. My question is does anyone agree that it sounds like a bad sending unit and also can anyone recommend an inexpensive one that won’t go bad in 6 months? Advance, AutoZone and all the others want $300 + for this part. I found an “AfterMarket” brand on eBay for $69.99 with free shipping and 1AAUTO.com have it for $85. Anyone have any good luck with the cheaper ones and what one should I look for? Remember this is a two door so the tank is right behind the rear bumper. Also I see them all coming with this extra wire harness. What is that for? Don’t they plug right into the vehicle harness? Thanks for looking!
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Your issue is locate on the fuel pump ARM. It’s a lever made whit steel and at the end a plastic ball. The same thing you can see in a toilet tank. After year, the steel rust and the arm for the lever jam. You might also change the fuel pump itself as a proactive repair because you might have rust build inside It.
Don’t buy too cheep you might never receive you part and if you received It you might have not a new part. Deal whit trusted website.
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/
It’s recommended to fill the gas tank when It’s reach the half of It. Because the fuel in the half of the tank will soak all the mechanic you can see in the fuel pump assembly. You can also use Lucas upper cylinder lubrication/injector clearer to lubricate all the fuel pump and upper cylinder to limit the wears and maintaint the injector clean.
ya I think its an in tank float problem too. I would not go cheep tho. I would only stick with GM fuel pumps. I’ve seen a lot of problems with aftermarket fuel pumps i.e. hard starting. Sometimes you can just get the float and that might be a more cost effective method for you.
I believe your problem is in the sending unit in
the tank.Put in a quality part.The tank will need
to be dropped.To do this, He might change all the fuel pump part if It’s his truck and if he have the money. Because empty a gas thank, remove the the rear seat or the tank itself is time consuming. So If one problem occur personally I will buy all the mechanical fuel pump to replace. Just to be sure I will not do this job again.
Thanks everyone who replied to my post. I am going to lookin into an AC-Delco or Delphi Sending unit and fuel pump. I don’t think it will be too bad to chnge on the two door model. Im going to try that. Thanks again guys!
[quote=”Plasmide56″ post=49330]Your issue is locate on the fuel pump ARM. It’s a lever made whit steel and at the end a plastic ball. The same thing you can see in a toilet tank. After year, the steel rust and the arm for the lever jam. You might also change the fuel pump itself as a proactive repair because you might have rust build inside It.
Don’t buy too cheep you might never receive you part and if you received It you might have not a new part. Deal whit trusted website.
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/
It’s recommended to fill the gas tank when It’s reach the half of It. Because the fuel in the half of the tank will soak all the mechanic you can see in the fuel pump assembly. You can also use Lucas upper cylinder lubrication/injector clearer to lubricate all the fuel pump and upper cylinder to limit the wears and maintaint the injector clean.[/quote]
I’m pretty sure that vehicle uses an electric pump in the gas tank so I don’t think your illustration will apply.
I do agree that it may be the sending unit. You can actually check it by removing it and checking it’s resistance through the full sweep of it’s travel. You’re looking for ‘dead spots’ or areas where the resistance doesn’t change much. Also a good idea to check system voltage. If your vehicle’s system voltage is low then it might cause problems with the gauge readings on the dash. This is remote since the dash has it’s own voltage regulator but I find it good practice to check system voltage on a vehicle that has an electrical issue.
‘Cheap’ and ‘quality’ are not often found together. If you’re wanting to fix the problem then I would suggest going for a quality part over a cheap part that may not work as well or fail prematurely.
I wanted to let you guys all know that my fuel gauge is fixed. It was bad resistor and float on the sending unit. The resistor was burned and had varnish and the float rod had a lot of play in it and wasn’t pushing the contacts against the resistor chip very well. I was a Carter brand. Seamed kind of cheap. I got a great deal on eBay for $129.99 with free shipping from a top rated seller for a new AC-Delco pump and sending unit. I installed it this past Sunday at my buddy’s garage. It wasn’t too bad to do but, is good to have the help of a buddy to lower the tank so you don’t break the nylon fuel lines. It is also recommended to purchase a GM quick disconnect fuel line tool to help unplug the plastic connections from the pump for the fuel lines. Harbor Freight sells them real cheap and work great. I broke the center quick connect end though but, it was just a breather line to the charcoal canister. I cut off the plastic quick connection off the nylon line and put a rubber hose with a hose clamp on both sides and seem to be holding fine. It’s not a fuel line and doesn’t have high pressure in it. I also had to use the 4 pin electrical connector that came with the new unit. The plug style on the new pump was way different than the one coming off the truck. It came with 4 butt wire connectors but I Soldered the wires instead and heat skunked them to keep them dry. My fuel gauge works perfect now and could be all in my head but I swear it runs better too. More pickup and smoother idle. I didn’t change the fuel filter because I just installed a new one in October. So I hope my infor help someone out. I also want to thank everyone that replied about the 4 pin wire connector on my other topic. It was very helpful! Have a good one everyone!
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