Oil & Fuel Fuel Gauge Inaccurate

[Broadband]

Hi, I have a 2012 Yanmar SC2450 with 20 hours on it. The fuel gauge is terribly inaccurate. I know the tank holds 5.8 gallons. When my gauge reads empty and I fill it while watching the gauge, it reads full after about 2.5 gallons. In the forums, this seems to be a rather common issue. Is there any way to recalibrate the gauge?

If not, I was thinking of wiring a little trimming potentiometer in parallel with the sending unit. I haven't checked it yet, but as I understand it, the float simply varies the amount of resistance between the gauge and ground. In another forum, it said to expect about 68 ohms when the tank is empty. As the tank fills, the resistance gradually decreases to 0 ohms.

Has anyone tried this ? Also I wonder how tough it is to get inside the dashboard behind the gauge?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Car Doc]

As long as the sender voltage or resistance is linear a pot could be installed but it sounds like the tank or sender is odd shaped or in an odd position and would probably make it worse but that's only a guess.

I would imagine the dash shouldn't be a huge issue the way I look at things is- it was assembled so it can be disassembled just a matter of technique. Sorry I dont have exact info on that tractor maybe someone else has a fix and will chime in.

Cars and trucks usually have a voltage regulator built in the cluster on analog gages and sometimes the individual gage has them. So I would be probably looking at a repair manual and see if voltages and grounds are what they are supposed to be.

 

[Broadband]

So, I tried to get at that fuel gauge today, no dice. Can't even begin to see up into the ack of that dashboard, darn it. Oh we'll.

 

[rmorey]

:welcome:

You might do better keeping track of hours per tank.

 

[winston1]

This being a 2012 model seems like Yanmar would make it good. Did this inaccuracy just start or has it been that way since the get go?

 

[Broadband]

I have to speak to the dealer about this. It's been bad since I got it.

 

[Car Doc]

Yup talk to the dealer guess I didn't think it was under warranty since you were wanting to tackle it good luck.

 

[California]

So, I tried to get at that fuel gauge today, no dice. Can't even begin to see up into the ack of that dashboard, darn it. Oh we'll.

You mean it doesn't look like this? (YM240 under cowl).

 

[Broadband]

Oh god no, everything is sealed up on mine.