Fuel gauge By kalee (Read 1,615 times)

[kalee]

Alley, I have a 2012 Ice Bear 150CC and the fuel gauge has quit working, what do I check first?
kalee

[Alleyoop]

Take the gas cap off and get a piece of wire and put a little bend on the end and stick it in the tank and try and grab the Float wire that the float is attached to and pull up on it and have the KEY ON and see if pulling up the float it registers on the gauge. If it does register then you will have to drain the gas and take the float assembly out to find out if the CHEAP thin PLASTIC FLOAT is filled with gas or just disintegrated or the Plate that moves up and down with the float is loose and not making contact with the resistor plate if the latter you just need to tighten up the push on washer.
Alleyoop

HOT OFF THE PRESS with my fine picture taking
Here is the float assembly and the brushs on the back plate that the actual float moves up and down and the resistor plate it makes contact with to make the gauge register. The problem is the plate is LOOSE against the Resistor plate and all you have to do is it tighten it up a little.
Alleyoop

[kalee]

Thanks Alley for the info, will try an work on this next week will let you know the outcome of the gas gage
kalee

[kalee]

I got a chance to work on my gas gauge some today before it got to hot ( 88 degrees )The tank is full of gas and after I ran the wire down inside of the tank the gauge is now showing full I never did catch the wire an float. Must have ( jiggled something around on the float this leads me to think the problem is with the float, I think I can remove the seat and the sending unit is directly under the seat on the tank and it looks like it only takes a half turn and its out, dont see any screws that holds it on.
kalee

[Alleyoop]

That tells me the Contact Plate that the Float wire is attached to is loose on the resistor plate so you will have to take it out and tighten it up NO BIG DEAL. If the sending unit is on top of the tank you can just rotate it counter clockwise and it will come loose.
Alleyoop

[kalee]

Thanks Alley for your very good advice
kalee

[oldscootcoot]

Remove the sending unit and see if the float swings freely. Both ours "locked" due to swelling of the plastic where the float shaft goes through the unit, presumably due to ethanol in the fuel. The fix was to simply pry the press on nut on the float shaft further away from the units body. Have had no further issues.

[kalee]

Thanks oldscootcoot for the info
kalee

[kalee]

I had a chance to work on my gas gauge today, I did get it loose and out of the tank and I think oldscootcoot maybe right. I thought it felt like it was a little tight but was still able to move it up an down.There just isnt enough room in there to really be able to diagnose for sure what the problem is.

Next week I will remove the left side panel ( if your sitting on the trike it would be on your left side ) it is the one closest to the sending unit and maybe I will have more room to check it out. Will let you know what i find
kalee

[oldscootcoot]

It needs to be free enough to easily flop around. Mine were moveable but binding. Now I always check the operation before I head out by shaking the scoot from side to side and watch for needle movement. I came in on fumes before I figured out I had a sending unit issue, it was indicating a half tank. My wifes was indicating nearly full, guess she thought she was getting about 250mi/gallon-lol.

[kalee]

Thanks oldscootcoot, thats a good Idea shaking the scooter to see if the sending unit is still working okay. I thought 75 mpg was really good but 250-mpg would be great-lol.
kalee

[kalee]

I removed the side panel on my trike this morning and removed the gas gauge sending unit. ( I tried to inclose a picture but push picture was not working in my favor ).I think Alley was right the contacts were not contacting properly so I tightened the flat locking washer that holds the contact plate up to the contacts and it seems to be working okay now. Alley has push picture changed there application it kept telling me I needed to sign up or this application was for paid members?

[Alleyoop]

Yes Kalee now they want MONEY, so use this instead: after a few download it will ask to answer the question then it will let you upload(HAHA).
Alleyoop

tinypic.com/index.php

[kalee]

Hey Alley what size tires an wheels do you have on your trike?

kalee

[Alleyoop]

The rims are the OEM rims it came with 10 inch rims the tires are 3 inch taller street DOT approved tires 205/65-10
Alleyoop