FZJ80 Fuel gauge inaccurate readings (1 Viewer)

[QLD Cruiser]

Hi Fellas, I own a 96' FZJ80 GXL 4.5l and I've been having some trouble with the main fuel gauge giving me inaccurate readings. I live in Australia so it's a right hand drive vehicle if it matters. But when I filled up recently the fuel gauge pegged at above full and hasn't moved until now that I've driven about 340km/ 211 mi where it's dropped to just above 3/4 full..

I thought the culprit might be the Fuel sender as I've heard they often fail especially on a 23 year old vehicle, so I bit the bullet and bought a new fuel sender from Toyota *cringe* and changed it out. I moved the float up and down while it was out of the tank and the ING on and the gauge moved in conjunction with the float, but it's still not reading right when I put it all back in the tank. The tank is clean and the baffles are still secure and I can't see anything catching the float arm.

My next thought was that I changed the bulbs to LED in the instrument cluster and I thought I might have pinched a wire or the connector was loose or dirty but after Pulling it all apart and reassembly I couldn't find anything.

My only other thinking is maybe the signal wire between the Sender and the gauge is bad somewhere perhaps? It's not the end of the world but I think it's important to have a working fuel gauge.

If anyone can shed some light on this I'd be extremely grateful. TIA, Adam.

 

[paulzak]

General info, not LC specific. I believe there has to be a voltage regulator somewhere in the fuel gauge circuit. I don't know if that exists in the dash or gauge; consult a circuit diagram for specifics. It could be that it's failed??? Comments from the more knowledgeable folks out there??

 

[scottryana]

The float arm often gets bent when people are changing fuel pumps etc. I would take a look at it.

 

[QLD Cruiser]

I was thinking about just driving around untill the low fuel light comes on and then maybe bend the float arm down a little to make the gauge a bit lower.

 

[scottryana]

Yeah I bent mine on accident at one point and the low fuel light would come on after 17gal. I just had to bend it back a little.

I was thinking about just driving around untill the low fuel light comes on and then maybe bend the float arm down a little to make the gauge a bit lower.

 

[QLD Cruiser]

Yeah I bent mine on accident at one point and the low fuel light would come on after 17gal. I just had to bend it back a little.

Yeah i just had a chat with my old man about it and he agrees, because there is nothing stopping that float from moving and it is a bit of a wiggle to get it back in the tank so its quite possible that i did bend it even if it was say a quarter of a inch or so it would make a big difference on the gauge.

I think i'll drive on it until the light comes on and then bend the float arm down slightly to adjust the gauge.

May I inquire to how far you had to bend your float arm down?

 

[scottryana]

Oh I didn’t really measure it just gave it a little tweak.

Yeah i just had a chat with my old man about it and he agrees, because there is nothing stopping that float from moving and it is a bit of a wiggle to get it back in the tank so its quite possible that i did bend it even if it was say a quarter of a inch or so it would make a big difference on the gauge.

I think i'll drive on it until the light comes on and then bend the float arm down slightly to adjust the gauge.

May I inquire to how far you had to bend your float arm down?

 

[QLD Cruiser]

Okie dokie, I'll just give it a small bend when the time comes and see how she goes. Hard to believe it could be that simple of a fix with brute force none the less haha that's my specialty.