I guess this could have gone under fuel, but it seemed more appropriate here. This is my experience with a Spectra Premium Classic fuel sending unit. The car is a 1970 Dart. After hearing lots of tales of woe regarding replacement sending units, I looked at the latest posts and on the basis of the experiences of others here tried the Spectra brand. The gas gauge had been working pretty well, until it wasn't - showed about an eighth of a tank when full. I had another unit sitting around, so I hooked it to the wire that comes out of the trunk and grounded the unit to a good ground. By having somebody in the car with the switch on I could move the float arm to various positions and see what the gauge was doing. All seemed to work properly, so I blamed it on the unit in the tank, drained gas and pulled it out. I hooked up the new Spectra unit without putting it in the tank. It worked but the readings did not match the gauge to the arm position. I carefully bent the wire arm so that when straight up it read full on the gauge. When I put the arm all the way down the bail that holds the float hit the tube to the filter so again small careful adjustment by bending the wire float arm. Now I checked both ends of the range and they corresponded with full and empty marks. I installed the sending unit in the tank, reinstalled the fuel line and the ground strap. I had attached a ground wire to the fuel outlet tube in the past, so I reattached that too (I've had issues with the factory strap in the past on other cars). The car was converted to 3/8 fuel line in the past, so I used Part# FG69B, which has a 3/8 outlet tube, but Spectra also makes one with a stock 5/16th tube. The 3/8 unit has a fuel return tube, that can be plugged or attached to a tank vent if not used for a return line.
I put in a couple gallons at home and the gauge registered a bit, then took the car to the gas station and put 2, then 5, then 10 gallons and then filled it up (took 13.5 gallons plus the 2 gallons from home) and looked at the gauge at each level. It seems that the gas gauge (an original with a new modern voltage limiter) actually read full when full!!! Now all I have to do is remember that this gauge now actually works since for 20 years it read 3/4 of a tank when full and still had 6 gallons in the tank when it read empty.
So that's my story. If I had not adjusted the sending unit out of the tank first, instead of just sticking it in, it would have read wrong. As it is this is the first time it has read accurately in a long, long time (the car is a one family car that my Dad bought new). I hope you have positive results too. Post your experiences here if you try a Spectra unit.
I put in a couple gallons at home and the gauge registered a bit, then took the car to the gas station and put 2, then 5, then 10 gallons and then filled it up (took 13.5 gallons plus the 2 gallons from home) and looked at the gauge at each level. It seems that the gas gauge (an original with a new modern voltage limiter) actually read full when full!!! Now all I have to do is remember that this gauge now actually works since for 20 years it read 3/4 of a tank when full and still had 6 gallons in the tank when it read empty.
So that's my story. If I had not adjusted the sending unit out of the tank first, instead of just sticking it in, it would have read wrong. As it is this is the first time it has read accurately in a long, long time (the car is a one family car that my Dad bought new). I hope you have positive results too. Post your experiences here if you try a Spectra unit.
