Fuel gauge issue

[Paul1965]

So yesterday my gas gauge was bouncing ALL over the place on my ride home. After a fill up it got even worse until it eventually stopped altogether. Thinking it had come unplugged under the seat, I checked the connection today to make sure it was tight. Turns out that wasn't even the issue, here the needle had bounced around so much that it's now stuck on the wrong side of the stop pin. Has anyone else had this happen, and will I be able to fix it? I'm not worried about taking it apart as I've done that before, I just don't want to waste my time if the gauge is damaged beyond repair now.

[red]

So yesterday my gas gauge was bouncing ALL over the place on my ride home. After a fill up it got even worse until it eventually stopped altogether. Thinking it had come unplugged under the seat, I checked the connection today to make sure it was tight. Turns out that wasn't even the issue, here the needle had bounced around so much that it's now stuck on the wrong side of the stop pin. Has anyone else had this happen, and will I be able to fix it? I'm not worried about taking it apart as I've done that before, I just don't want to waste my time if the gauge is damaged beyond repair now.

Paul,

You can lift the needle back over the pin, into the operating range; just do it carefully.  Chances are, the needle was bouncing due to a flakey ground, rather than the gauge or sender unit as being the culprit.  Trace out the ground lead, and you will probably find rust or a loose screw at the frame.  You can always simply install a new ground wire with the old one, to be sure.  If that does not fix the problem, clean up the sender unit, or try a good one.

Cheers,
Red

[FJ1100mjk]

Take a look at this old post...

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=333.0

And this one...

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=1358.0

And this one...

http://www.fjowners.com/index.php?topic=2026.0

[Paul1965]

I was able to fix it without even taking it apart. I took a few strands of copper wire and wound them together, then threaded them through one of the clock set holes in the lens. All I had to do was catch the bottom of the needle and pull it back around and the gauge is back to normal 

[Paul1965]

So yesterday my gas gauge was bouncing ALL over the place on my ride home. After a fill up it got even worse until it eventually stopped altogether. Thinking it had come unplugged under the seat, I checked the connection today to make sure it was tight. Turns out that wasn't even the issue, here the needle had bounced around so much that it's now stuck on the wrong side of the stop pin. Has anyone else had this happen, and will I be able to fix it? I'm not worried about taking it apart as I've done that before, I just don't want to waste my time if the gauge is damaged beyond repair now.

Paul,

You can lift the needle back over the pin, into the operating range; just do it carefully.  Chances are, the needle was bouncing due to a flakey ground, rather than the gauge or sender unit as being the culprit.  Trace out the ground lead, and you will probably find rust or a loose screw at the frame.  You can always simply install a new ground wire with the old one, to be sure.  If that does not fix the problem, clean up the sender unit, or try a good one.

Cheers,
Red

Thanks for the info Red. I'm pretty sure it's a sender issue. Cruising down the road I can rock the bike side to side and get the needle to bounce even worse. Plus I didn't have this issue until I did the tank swap. So next time I'll wait to fill up and pull the sender out and see if there's anything I can do.

[Paul1965]

I think my issue was actually the harness connection under the seat. I made sure it was tight yesterday and noticed no bouncing at all on the way to work today. So tonight I'll zip tie the connector so it remains tight. Thanks everyone for the help....