fuel gauge fluctuation

[38plymouth]

What might cause a fuel gauge needle to jump around and sometimes not work at all? I checked the electrical connections on the gauge and on the sending unit. I have not pulled the sending unit from the tank to look at that yet.

 

[AdmiralQ]

Re: fuel gauge fluctuation

I just fixed the same problem two days ago. I had the exact same symptoms. Pulled the sending unit, tested it with a digital mulimeter. There was a direct short in the middle of the range that the float arm moves up and down. You should see a continuously variable resistance between the two extremes of the float travel. All I had to do was clean up the sending unit real well, gauge works perfectly now. Hopefully it's that simple for you.