Gas Gauge Solution, Crazy Idea

[YUPOK]

One of my big pet Peeves has always been a properly working gas gauge. After replacing the fuel pump and rail with float on my AWD Talon I realized the complexity of the tank level because of the arch in the middle to clear the drive shaft.

Of course my gage does not work. Assuming the worst I started thinking about alternate solutions to the problem and then it hit me.

You could set up a small portable pocket sized Ultrasonic Thickness gage. The meter would sit in the center console and the transducer wire would run under the carpet and under the rear seat. The transducer would then go through the rubber grommet on the access plate and would need to get strapped on top of the tank. When the tank is full set the meter to 0 and as the tank empties will give you a reading off the meter. You would of course have to know the depth of the tank to equal empty otherwise you would find out the hard way there's nothing left.

I was looking on Ebay and they have cheapie ultrasonic thickness machines for about $100.

Of course this is all hypothetical right now, any thoughts?

 

[knochgoon24]

If you could also either bend the float arm to get it to read correctly or at a potentiometer in the one wire to adjust the resistance, and therefore the reading.

 

[eagletalontsi90]

you know this might actually work if u could accurately configure it correctly and if u do i am very interested in this

 

[jada64]

I would rather just fix the OEM in tank float to read properly, this just sounds like too much work for something thats already there.

If you do attempt it make a thread with pics though. Would be an easy way to put a sensor in a fuel cell.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I think you could just figure out the resistance on the stock fuel level floater on the stock sending unit, and buy an aftermarket fuel level gauge.

 

[YUPOK]

As far as my car goes, it could be a very simple fix. I have just read a lot of articles with different gage issues even if it does work with OEM setup. This is just an idea I had for a cheap but functional solution for anyone since it seems to be a very common issue with our cars. And it's universal. You could use it with the AWD tank, FWD tank, 1G 2G or even fuel cells. It might even work on propane conversion since propane is a liquid when pressurized.

I paid $100 for a used pump hangar on the passenger side alone, new Extreme PSI wants like $500 just for the hanger with float. If I have multiple issues I could spend close to $1000 just to get my OEM gage to work. SO this was thinking outside the box so to speak.

It's really not a complicated setup cause you don't have to do any wiring, your literally laying the transducer on the top of the tank and hiding the wires up to the gage to make it look neat. You could route it anyway you want but I thought it would be cool to have the meter in the arm rest for convenience.