PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - Sending unit's out; how do I take it apart?

lrg · #8 01-14-2003, 05:58 PM

I'd think alcohol or carb cleaner is OK. You just want to avoid a strong solvent that might damage the float or lower cap plastic. A small bit of gasoline might work too as long as you don't blow yourself up. The float should move easily up and down the full travel with no binding and it may feel a bit loose. Also, the contacts on the bottom (for the warning light), on the float itself (for the gauge), and the wires that the float contacts slide on should all be completely clean. I believe the unit works by the varying resistance as the float moves up and down on the wires so all the contacts and the wires themselves have to be clean. If the wires and float contacts are not clean you'll get bad readings. Also if the serpentine maze is not clean, the bottom of the tube won't drain properly and will never give an accurate read at the very bottom.