Fitting a new fuel sender

Hi,

I am new to this and also pretty new to boating and am in need of help. I have recently bought a 1997 wellcraft ecxel 18SL knowing that the fuel gauge wasn't working. I have looked on the net how to test the gauge itself and that seems to be working ok. I have bought a new fuel sender off ebay and wired it up. Now when i turn on the ignition the fuel gauge goes straight to full even when the sending arm is down. When the sending arm is up the gauge shows slightly above full. I cant see that i have wired it up wrong in any way as i have simply replaced an old sender for a new one. Could it be that i have bought the wrong type sender? the description on ebay was very vague! As i say there is a slight movement in the gauge when i move the sending arm but its not reflecting the arm position at all.

You help would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

Re: Fitting a new fuel sender

A very vague description on e-bay is a pretty good clue that you have an incorrect sender. What you did is also a mistake in that you didn't prove the original sender was bad. A resistance check would have done that for you. So - a standard sender has a resistance range of 33 - 240 ohms (full/empty) with 109 ohms (roughly) at 1/2 tank. If the sender you bought does not meet those specs it won't work with your gauge. The gauge and sender must match. There are at least three other fuel gauge problems posted here in the last few days. Scroll down the list to find a diagram of the system.