fuel gauge sender problem

mrM

Club Member
as we know the fuel gauge not working is common on the z31,its usually a duff sender unit,my gauge has never worked,ive disconnected the sender unit in the boot and turned the ignition on and i get around 7.7 volts which suggests to me either a relay/circuit breaker is at fault......i had a similar problem on a front electric window reading about the same volts and it was the circuit breaker under the dash at fault........ ive checked all the relays/circuit breaker in the drivers footwell,and all the relays in the box on the drivers side under the bonnet,and its nothing to do with the 2 metal boxes by the tail lights in the drivers side wheelarch either,bit stumped at min,does anybody know the location of the relay that covers the fuel sender unit?the manual doesnt say anything:confused:
 

Mr.F

Inactive
I have a new Z31 fuel sender unit available from stock - no longer available to order from Nissan...

As far as I am aware, there are no relays involved in operation of the fuel gauge / sender unit circuit.
 

mrM

Club Member
ive been told the sender works as a variable resistor to ground,because i wasnt using a high impedence voltage meter when i tested the wiring it was acting like the sender and providing a path to ground,not that well up on electrics but basically the circuit is ok,the sender is duff,i tried a secondhand one today wired up out of the tank(dry) with the float about half way up and saw the gauge rise,anyway ive installed it in the tank so fingers crossed it will work when i put some new fuel in,if not i might have to contact you about yours
 

Northerner

Club Member
Which sender does your car have? The problematic unit was a cylinder and nissan replaced it with a convention ball cock design. Its an exact fit for the old type as I changed mine.
 

mrM

Club Member
my car has the problematic cylinder type,i heard they changed it but havent seen one of those units
 

CrashCourse

Active Forum User
My fuel gauge didn't work at all, so I removed the cylinder-type tank sender unit and cleaned it with WD40. Re-installed it and it has been working okay for the past year :)
 
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