Fuel gauge...

[Johnny K]

1982 GS850. I was trying to get my oil light to come light up on the instrument panel and checked some wires underneath the tank. My fuel gauge has not been working, but when I lift the bottom tank up until the top reaches the handle bar that is still connected to the two rubber mounts. The fuel guage goes to "F". But then when I lower the tank back down to put the two bolts securing it back, the guage goes back to "E". Thanks for the help guys.
John.

[Dave8338]

1982 GS850. I was trying to get my oil light to come light up on the instrument panel and checked some wires underneath the tank. My fuel gauge has not been working, but when I lift the bottom tank up until the top reaches the handle bar that is still connected to the two rubber mounts. The fuel guage goes to "F". But then when I lower the tank back down to put the two bolts securing it back, the guage goes back to "E". Thanks for the help guys.
John.

May be the wrong sending unit in the tank or just in need of a good "readjustment" (read bend it and check fuel levels). :shock:

[BassCliff]

Check your shorts, watch for gas!

Mr. Johnny K,

It sounds like a wire from your fuel gauge send unit is shorting. If you look under your tank (you'll have to take it off) and look underneath on the left lobe you'll see the send unit. It's number 8 in the picture below.



Make sure the wires coming from the send unit are not damaged, shorting to each other, or shorting to ground. The connections, on my bike anyway, that go up to the gauge are made under the seat right behind the tank.



Those are the connections for the tank's send unit there sticking out above the battery storage area.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[bonanzadave]

Those are the connections for the tank's send unit there sticking out above the battery storage area.

I just recently recrimped, soldered and put some heatshrink on these two connectors. Cant believe they lasted 25 years of yankin on em.

[Johnny K]

Thanks guys. I am thinking maybe the sending unit should be re-adjusted. A while back I may have put it in backwards when I cleaned the tank using rocks and diesel fuel. But it just doesn't make sense how if I life where the 2 bolts are at an angle towards the handle bars, it reads "F". Then when I let it back down to the two holes for the bolts, it reads "E". And when doing this, it is pretty much a full tank. Really confused....:?

[BassCliff]

No shorts? But you got gas?

Mr. Johnny K,

Interesting. As you slowly decrease the angle of the tank from the "full" position, does the gauge register anything between 'Full' and 'Empty'? If the gauge registers only one or the other and nothing in between then the send unit may be faulty. Is the float pointing forward? You may be correct in that the unit is not installed at the right angle.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Johnny K]

Good quest. I will check tomorrow about the send unit. But I want to say that it does read between full and empty when held at an angle. To get full I have to lift the tank where the bolts go while still connected to the top 2 rubber mounts and lift up until the middle part of the tank hits the handle bar. Maybe it does need to be re-adjusted?? I havent checked it out in sometime when I cleaned the gas tank last about 4 months ago. I have gear indicator lights now, but I still do not have an oil light on panel when "on" pos. Just wondering about that... Thanks again.
John.

[bakalorz]

See this other thread

Some time ago, Jethro did a great write up on the adjusting the sending unit, I bookmarked it:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=81513

[Steve]

It sounds to me like the float is in the correct direction, but the whole unit might be rotated by one bolt hole.

Try removing the mounting bolts and rotating the top of the mount plate forward one hole and re-fasten it.


.

[Johnny K]

Thanks Steve. Unfortuneatly I did not get to read your comment until after I took the gas tank off. I took the sending unit off and followed bakalorz's response and thank you for that. When I took it off, everything was in working order and tested it out by hooking up the sending unit to the bike and place the circle thing on the bike and moved the float up and down and held it half way and it responded as well. It didn't just go to empty or full. It paused if I went half way. Didn't check to see if the float maybe had a hole to have gas in it so that it would always be empty??? Not sure. I also did not put it in a different hole. Maybe next time when I have the chance I will do so. Thanks for the responses guys.