Fuel Tank Sending Units

S

Sea-C

New member
Just replaced the port sending unit on the Lori-L today. I have a split 58 gallon aluminum tank, 29 gallons per side. I thought I had ran out of fuel while crabbing over on one of the local islands just a few miles from the launch. I actually did run out on the stbrd. tank and the port gauge just barely moved. I switched to the port tank and ran all the way back to Skyline marina on the kicker sweating every mile that it would spit-sputter and quit right in the middle of the straits. Fueled at Skyline and the port only took 11 gallons. Anyway the sender was toast. If anyone is interested, Moeller makes a universal sending unit that reads from 35 ohms to 240 and fits any size tank from 4 inches to 27 inches deep. About $22.00 on Ebay and it worked great with my gauges..As many boats that I have owned, I still hate breaking in a new boat that I know very little about. My own fault I guess for taking the previous owners word that both tanks were full when I bought the boat.
 
Yeah you have to get to know the boat. Every time I buy a new car ( well new to me) i put a 2 gallon gas can in the trunk and drive it until its out of gas. I want to know how far I can go when the needle hits Empty. Cars today will go about 70 miles after you hit E. I call that poor engineering. I want it to hit e when I run out.
 
starcrafttom":1jkoqfin said:
...Cars today will go about 70 miles after you hit E. I call that poor engineering. I want it to hit e when I run out. ...
Click to expand...

Apparently fuel gauges in cars designed for the North America market are engineered to work this way. Seems that we like to know that there is a reasonable reserve when the gauge indicates E. I understand that cars for the German market are engineered so that when the needle hits E you are out of gas. The Germans prefer it that way.
 
Lori L - I have the same set up and they have worked fine for 17 yrs but really appreciate the source info. I keep wondering if/when they might need upgrading.
 
I heard somewhere that the gas gauges in Americana cars were designed to register zero a bit early so that you wouldn't run out of gas because doing so was hard on the fuel injection pumps, injectors, and overall systems, which, of course are both electronic and hydraulic issues with components that are extremely expensive to replace.

Sounds logical.

Anybody know if that's true?

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Joe, ACCORDING TO THIS ARTICLE in newer cars, not so much. How many of us let our cars get down to near nothing though? I can't remember the last time I ran out in a car. Most cars these days have a "low fuel light" and it comes on when you should refuel. Our Chrysler T&C light comes on with about 40 miles worth of gas in the tank. The big Excursion at about 100 miles left. The first holds about 22 gal of gas, the latter 47 :shock:

A boat is another kettle of fish though. :roll: us folks with the plastic tanks can SEE their fuel level. And our fuel pumps aren't IN the tank but in the engine, If I were going anywhere on the water, id make sure the tanks had enough to get me there, whether I had a gauge or not! You can't get out and hitchhike to the nearest station to get 5 gallons, it gets expensive and potentially dangerous on the water! But, I'm preaching to a whole bunch of choir's! :oops:

Sea-C, does your boat have a selector switch so you can run the main off of either tank? What does the kicker run on? If you have a switch (my '94 Cruiser did). Did you try restarting the Main?
 
Well Charlie, sorry I haven't been on here lately to answer your question about the selector,,,(boat stuff going on ya know) It does have a selector.. I get your drift about knowing you have enough fuel to get where you are going, but I am 72 years old, commercial fished Alaska for 11 years, Washington coast for 1 year(Never again) and I have sport fished Puget Sound for many more. I was only going about 6 miles crabbing and I hold 58 gallons of fuel, plus had only ran the boat a couple hours after fueling up a few days earlier. At first I thought someone had siphoned both tanks while the boat was home. The whole thing boiled down to not knowing the boat and the previous owner hooking the two fuel gauges up to only the port battery and I didn't know that. I unfortunately was running on the starboard battery. When my kicker died running the pots, the first thing I did was switch tanks. Started right back up. I went forward and hit both fuel switches and ""O"" They wouldn't even register. One moved a little, but I think it was static or something. Tapped the aluminum tanks and they sure sounded empty. Of course they would a this point... After finally getting fuel and everything straightened out, I tore into the entire fuel system when I got the dory home, come to fine out, the only check valves was the primer bulbs and evidently the one on the main wasn't seating properly allowing it to pull the fuel from the main line and the kicker quitting. It must have reseated itself after it started back up because it ran all the way to Skyline to fuel up. Then like I stated it only took very little fuel. I found then when the gauges still read ""O"" that they were hooked to only one battery. I knew they worked right after I got the boat. That's when I switched to both batteries, and walaa they were full again...It was just one of those days on the water when nothing went right along with the fact I wasn't out of fuel after all. And it will have two new check valves installed before the next trip. The port sender wasn't working right either, so that is why it got changed. I don't try and second guess anything on a boat, if something is not right,,it gets fixed. I shouldn't even say this because the next time out I might have to be towed, but with literally thousands of hours on the water, I have yet to have ever had to be towed or run out of fuel. Guess I'm just getting to the point I don't like learning new boats anymore. So this little dory might be around for some time ..Maybe as long as I am..Take care back there..
 
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