Ok so i know its not truck related but Im sure someone can help me out.

I have a 97 chevy lumina car and the fuel gauge reads empty all the time....I forgot weather that means a bad gauge or a bad sending unit(unit is $300 new) I hope someone can remember what the gauge reading e all the time means.

 

my wifes car is a 97 lumina, she had the same problem. i had to replace the sending unit. Have you checked for voltage at the gauge?

 

not yet but that was my thinking....i was just hoping someone had some idea before I went and bought a new sending unit

 

When this happend to my wifes care I did some research on it. This seems to be a common problem with this model car.

 

pardon me for butting in ... is the sending unit really bad, as in a blown capacitor or fried resistor or corrupted chip, as opposed to being fixable? is there a DIY fix other than a r&r?

chris, how did your research project turn out, where you were requesting truck/mileage/options data?

 

The research project went well.....thanks for asking, I got a B on it. as far as being servicable they are "kinda" what makes the gauge work is a potentiometer and they get worn and build up corrosion, some times you can fix them and sometimes not, either way it has to be pull and looked at.....I may try and see if I can fix it when I get to pulling it....we will see

 

congrats on the project, chris !