XJ6 & XJ12 Series I, II & III 1968-1992

1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

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Old Jun 20, 2008 | 07:49 PM
  #1  
gwlones's Avatar
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From: Conway, SC
Default 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

I just bought this car for my lovely wife & realized the fuel gauge is sitting on 0 (empty).....YES!, there's gas in it. In fact I filled both tanks.Right Tank & Left Tank responds the same (empty).

FYI: All of the other gauges work properly.

I would appreciate any help you can give in fixing this problem.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2008 | 10:15 AM
  #2  
skanoski's Avatar
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From: Philly
Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

go to page 2 in this forum, and open the thread "fuel gauge". I'm in the same boat you are - I just reset the trip every time I fill up.
 
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Old Jun 21, 2008 | 10:02 PM
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From: Just outside of Little Rock, Arkansas
Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

Heres a couple things to check. Mine was the same when I first bought it. Found a wire off in back of the fuel change over switch on the dash. Once attached, the gauge worked on both tanks. Also, do you know if its worked recently? You can clean up the connectors at each sending unit in the tanks. You access it by removing the taillight housing. You'll see the sender behind the lights, two wires. Clean the connections. Also by grounding the wires, you should see the gauge go to full. Try those things, and let me know how that turns out. Keith.
 
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Old Jun 22, 2008 | 12:16 PM
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Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

Thanks! I appreciate the advice. I will try it out & report back my findings.
 
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Old Jun 23, 2008 | 11:03 AM
  #5  
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Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

Ok.

1) I pulled the speedometer out of the panel & looked at the connections behind the fuel gauge.

2) I removed the fuel switch from panel & also found nothing loose or removed.

3) I grounded out the fuel senders, & like you said, they registered full.

So, is it my assumption then that both sending units are not working????
 
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Old Jun 23, 2008 | 02:41 PM
  #6  
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From: Houston, Texas
Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

It's a safe bet. These have a fairly high failure rate.
http://www.motorcarsltd.com/item.wws...p;sku=IN101498

http://www.motorcarsltd.com/item.wws...p;sku=IN101499


 
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Old Jun 23, 2008 | 03:02 PM
  #7  
gwlones's Avatar
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Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

Well, I'll go ahead with the replacement of these & we'll see what happens.
I'll respond as soon as it's completed.
 
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Old Jun 25, 2008 | 06:48 AM
  #8  
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From: Just outside of Little Rock, Arkansas
Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

Yes, its possible, also once you remove the senders, check where the pointer meets the coils, may need cleaning or adjusting. Move the floats around to see if the gauge responds.
 
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Old Jun 28, 2008 | 10:57 AM
  #9  
gwlones's Avatar
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From: Conway, SC
Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

After locating the fuel sending units behind the tail light, I've found that they were pretty corroded. I was able to get one to work.

1) I grounded out the fuel gauge wire to verify that the gauge actually did work.

After verifying that the fuel gauge works, I :

2) pulled out the sending units & noticed that the arm on one was very stiff, so I cleaned the debris off & opened the casing to verify if the tiny wires wrapped around had any resistance. It did. I also moved the arm up & down while connected to the fuel gauge & behold, I got a reading.

3) Put the sending units back in place. Only one of them works, but that's ok. I improvised - check out "Fuel Leak" thread to find out what I did. (Since they both were a related problem)

Once again, I appreciate all the help!

 
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Old Jun 28, 2008 | 08:19 PM
  #10  
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From: Just outside of Little Rock, Arkansas
Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

Well,sounds like we were on the right track. And, in this case, only one apparently went bad, while the other only needed maintainance, like I thought. Ken probably sells the non return valves that I mentioned, if you want to get it back original. When everything is working as it sould, you'll love it, and they tend to be very reliable. Keith.
 
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Old Jul 1, 2008 | 10:26 AM
  #11  
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From: Houston, Texas
Default RE: 1985 XJ6 Fuel Gauge

Nice work!
 
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