Gas Gauge Problem

[Matthew Ring]

Hello fellow Festiva drivers I have a problem I was hoping you could assist me with, I have recently bought my first car a 1993 Festiva and It took me a while to notice that it had some problems. It had a hole in the muffler but we fixed that right up, Burnt out reverse lights? No problem, Rips in seats, Fine get some seat covers, But now onto the gas gauge, no matter how much gas I have or what not the tank gauge always reads empty. This might not be such a problem to some people but under the criteria for a New Drivers road test if the gas gauge reads empty the car with not be allowed to be used to take the test. The Dash seems to be working fine other then a little ticking (I mean like hardly noticeable) of the speedometer but it still tells me the correct speed but the gas gauge will only read empty as you can see I really need some help here

[Team Lightning]

Sounds like the float is hung up or damaged. Flip the back seat forward up against the back of the front seats. You should see a place in the carpet where it is joined. Separate the pieces and you shoud see a removable plate close to where the rear seat is hinged. Under this plate is the fuel pump with the float assembly. I think the top plate has 4-6 screws, the pump plate has about 10-12.
You can remove the pump assembly from here. Parts, should be available from Rockauto.com.

[Tommychu]

If you're lucky there's just some crud between the tang off the float arm and the coil of resistance wire. Fixed mine with some electrical contact cleaner and a small wire brush. Also makes for a prime opportunity to check the inside of your fuel tank for rust.

[GenevaDirt]

possible grounding issue

[Movin]

Sounds like you might need a little lube on the speedo cable too.

[purg3d]

Good luck. I'm having the same problem. Swapped instrument clusters and sending units. Every once in a while, I'll switch out sending units and get it to show level, of course once the car starts rolling the needle falls (empty). Testing both units with an analog voltmeter looks 'ok', and if I connect the plug and manually move the float they both register as normal.

Where does the sending unit ground? Also, where do we find floats if that's the problem? Sorry for the jack.

[bravekozak]

According to the 1989 wiring diagram, the black wire is spliced into the common ground wire going back to the tailgate. It is the shared ground screw for the tail lights, license plate lamps, and third brake light. You would certainly notice when they all went out!

[bravekozak]

Here is a great article on troubleshooting erratic fuel gauge behaviour.