1985 2150 Bayliner Sunbridge fuel gauge d/w

I need help,I have a 1985 21 ft bayliner( 2150 ) sun- bridge. The fuel gauge doesn't work,and I need help on how to troubleshoot it.It is a new gauge,put in during my restoration of the boat.Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
DBP




"NOTHING TO IT,BUT TO DO IT"

Re: 1985 2150 Bayliner Sunbridge fuel gauge d/w

are the wires good to the tank sender?

Re: 1985 2150 Bayliner Sunbridge fuel gauge d/w

I'd bet the sender is the problem.Condesation or ethanol is adding water to the fuel system.Any rust will stop it from working.J

Re: 1985 2150 Bayliner Sunbridge fuel gauge d/w

Ahhh - another problem to blame "ethanol" for. Purely speculation and I'm betting ethanol is not the issue. There are well over 50 fuel gauge don't work questions on this forum so the search function would have turned those up for you along with a diagram. But - what the heck, I'm getting ready to go to the lake but will delay that a bit to answer the question again.

1) Short the "S" terminal on the gauge to ground. Needle pegs to full the gauge has power and ground. If not, it doesn't. Fix it.
2) Do the same test but short the sender wire to the metal shell of the sender in the tank. The gauge should peg to full. If not, the wire to the gauge is open or the shell of the tank is not grounded. Fix it.
3) NOW you can look at the sender. With the sender wire disconnected, measure sender resistance to ground (the shell of the sender). If you know how much fuel is in the tank, you should read 33 ohms with a full tank, 109 ohms with 1/2 tank and 240 ohms with an empty tank. These are rough numbers of course.

And here is the diagram again.