fuel gauge flutter

[421racing]

the fuel gauge on my 99 flutters rapidly.......it reads the tank level correctly, but the vibrating needle is quite annoying...has anyone had this problem and or been able to correct it?

 

[lowlows18]

mine does it when i have less then a 1/4 tank...when i take off and when im braking...its just the float in the tank...it doesnt bother me so i just left it....if i was u i would just wait for when your fuel pump gives out and then change it together

 

[sasquatch094]

is it like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxzq2pqcOEg
When i had my original Tahoe gauges in my truck the gas gauge would never ever do that, now that i swapped my gauges to a year 2000 escalade gauges, the gas gauge does something like that video, just goes back and fourth.. im gunna pull it out this weekend and switch the gas gauge, it drives me nuts too

 

[421racing]

It doesn't bounce around like the gauge in that video, it seems to "vibrate", like the way a hummingbirds wings move ( sorry for the bad analogy, thats the best I can do to describe it). it moves about 1/8 of an inch to each side....

I changed out my fuel pump last year....this problem started about a week ago....

 

[sasquatch094]

i wouldnt say its the fuel pump tho.. imean look at it in my position, i changed gauges and it does it.. i think the fuel pump just helped it.. does your pump seem to be any louder in whinning or anything?

 

[achipnachair]

Mine does it also. It can get on my nerves. It is just vibrating, looks like a blur. I was thinking it was a wire somewhere.

 

[Pooh Bear]

Do a search. There was a post on here not too long ago that said it might be the connection near the gas tank. I think the remedy was too disconnect it - blow it out (clean it) and then re-connect. This solved the problem for that person. By the way, mine tells me every now and then that I'm on "E". Just something else to do on the weekend.

 

[sasquatch094]

The connector wouldnt be in my case... hey achipnachair and 421 racing, i have a video clip of my gauge dancing around, ill put it up here tomorrow and see if its the same type of movements as yours..

 

[41racing]

It's the sending unit in the tank. Seen it on quite a few gm vehicles. There are 2 followers or fingers attached to the float are. They sweep across a resistor card. One of the fingers breaks off and causes the gauge to vibrate. You need to replace the sending unit to fix it. It is available separate, but it's not cheap. Most people will wait until the fuel pump goes and replace it then. I know that I wouldn't be able to take and would have to fix it.

 

[hapyspaz]

I read on another post somewhere that the vibrating, not dancing, but the "hummingbird" type of problem stated above was due to the ground wire not being just right. I have the hummingbird and I am going to try reseating my ground soon. Let you know what happens.

 

[sasquatch094]

I think thats crap tho, how would one set of gauges make the sending unit go bad and the other one doesn't it.

this isnt my movie, but check this out http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s68/Jericoman/?action=view&current=MOV00832.flv


lets hope its not doing this.. lol http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/ll47/usmc6213/?action=view&current=Video-0002.flv

 

[sasquatch094]

Ive been reading threads on other forums, and researching this ALOT. i came across a couple things it could be... The whole gauge cluster (likemine), the ground from gauges to ground is loose or corroded, and the ground for the sending unit, some people said changing sending unit helped but alot more said the gauge swap helped the most.. Which i believe is 100% right, considering my old gauges workd then i put in those caddy gauges and it was going nuts like u guys had said..

 

[achipnachair]

Ok talked to a friend. He says the gas gauge reads ohms. What is happening is the ohms it is reading are not steady. Could be a ground(at gauges or tank), could be bad connection at the pigtail, could be a cheap sending unit. So I guess the bottom line would be good luck figuring it out, I would replace to gauge cluster with you stock one if it didn't do it before.

 

[GHR2]

the fuel gauge on my 99 flutters rapidly.......it reads the tank level correctly, but the vibrating needle is quite annoying...has anyone had this problem and or been able to correct it?

Same thing happened on my 1999 K2500 Suburban. Gas gauge started vibrating rapidly in Dec 2006. Took it to dealer - they diagnosed and installed a new gauge cluster. Problem fixed.

 

[yukonlover89]

not to get off the subject of gauges... but my fuel pump has been whining pretty loud i dunno what it is it was just replaced two months ago :/ while we are on the subject of fuel tanks any help? lol thanks

 

[achipnachair]

You bought a cheapy.

 

[footinSD]

Back on topic...

Just replaced my instrument cluster this weekend. Old instrument cluster gas gauge would flutter and is solid with the replacement. Found the instrument cluster on ebay for $25 (shipping included) so I figure you cant beat that for a fix.

 

[erikog76]

i replaced the cluster with a usd one and it fixed the problem for a while then it just acme back now i don,t trust the gauge i just go by miles 12mpg i add 10 gallons everytime and zero my odometer annoying but oh well