Hey all,

I just put in a used fuel sender in the '81 wagon. The guage seems to be working - it is reading full and the tank is full - I'll know for sure in a few days.

Now for the weirdness - The low fuel level light stays on all the time. It never lit up before. The previous sender wouldn't show below a quarter tank - probably lots of gunk in the bottom of the tube. The sending unit came out in pieces when I pulled it.

What I've read is that when the float touches the contacts on the bottom of its travel, the circuit is completed for the low fuel light.

Any ideas why the low fuel light would be staying on all the time? I've searched the forum with no success.

Thanks,

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Brad
1981 300TD - daily driver
1963 Chevy II
2001 F-250 7.3 Power Stroke

Something is shorting it out. You have to take the sender apart and clean it out. Easy but delicate job. Just be careful so you don't break the fine resistance wires.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I recently cleaned my fuel sender and, in the process of doing so, dropped it and broke the wires. Resoldered the resistance wires, but not the ground wire. Low fuel light stayed on and needle on gauge bounced all over the place. Was advised to resolder the ground wire (had to use a larger soldering iron) and that solved the problem. Again, saved by the helpful members of this forum.

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John Schroader
bio burnin' 83 300D, '83 300 SD, '79 240D
"I've never met a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else" Ben Franklin
"You cannot permanently help a man by doing for him what he could and should do for himself" Abraham Lincoln

I took it apart when I got it Friday and sanded off corosion on the rod. The float would stick in the full position. All wires were intact. I guess I'll take it back out next weekend and do some checking with an ohm meter. I did notice in a thread that on newer models the low fuel level light would come on during start up and go off once started. Could a newer sending unit cause gremlins to appear?

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Brad
1981 300TD - daily driver
1963 Chevy II
2001 F-250 7.3 Power Stroke