RE: [alfa] 1991 Spider Fuel Gauge

["Jeff Greenfield" <alfaguy@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Does the gauge read correctly when the light comes on?

The tank float/sender assembly uses one float, and when the float gets low
enough it will close the contact which turns the light on.

Unless they changed things on the series 4 cars, it is possible that the
sender could be oriented the wrong way, as I am pretty sure that it can be
installed in one of several positions. Unfortunately, I do not remember
which way it is supposed to go.

Unless the sender is somehow messed up, or there is some very strange wiring
problem, I can't see how the light would come on too soon, while at the same
time the gauge is reading more or less correctly.

FWIW, the fuel gauges in these cars never read all that accurately even when
things are working correctly and tend to fluctuate quite a lot during
cornering, hills, etc.

HTH,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-alfa@domain.elided [mailto:owner-alfa@domain.elided] On Behalf Of
Michael Pordes
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 7:45 PM
To: alfa-digest@domain.elided
Subject: [alfa] 1991 Spider Fuel Gauge

Dear Digesters,

I am looking for some technical advice. I have owned my 91 Spider for
about 3 months, and ever since buying it, it has had an unusual quirk.
The "fuel low" light comes on flickering at just about half a tank , and
just below a half of a tank on the gauge,  the light stays on steady
until I fill it when the gauge is around an eighth of a tank.

I had my mechanic put in a brand new Alfa sender. The first time it got
to around a half a tank, bingo, the light starts flickering on and off
like a strobe, especially when going up a hill. A little while later, it
comes on steady between a half and a quarter tank. And again, it stays
on steady until I fill up at around an eighth.

Any ideas what is going on? The mechanic says the sender only goes in
one way, but another Alfa club member tells me it may be reversed in the
way it is installed, and this is causing the problem. Does anyone know
the definitive answer?

Michael Pordes
87 Milano Gold
87 Milano Verde
91 Spider
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