Fuel level sending unit replacement
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 4:12 pm
Ever since I bought my 1997 Ivory the furl gauge has been erratic and inaccurate. Apparently this is a very common problem and because of the expense of repair many Safari owners use other means to decide when to fill up.
If you are lucky and your coach has the sending unit in the side of the tank this isn't too tough of a job. On my Ivory there is a 3" hole in the frame inboard of the left front tire. Looking in that hole you can see the sender. It's a little higher than the frame hole so the straps that support the tank have to be loosened to allow it to drop down a bit. Plan ahead, do this job when the tank is mostly empty to avoid a big mess or the extra work of draining a bunch of fuel out of the tank.
Here's the hole in the frame with the sending unit visible in the shadows. The wire in the foreground is the ground which should be checked first before doing anything else. A bad ground will prevent the gauge from working.
Click on the picture for a bigger image.
Next I coaxed the sender out of hiding. Even with the tank lowered the frame hole didn't line up very well with the sender. It was a challenge getting all the nuts loose and the sender detached but here it is.
The tank and sender on my coach were manufactured by Transfer Flow. They are still in business so I called them. Unfortunately, they haven't made these sending units for many years. They did offer to rebuild the sender for $180-$200. Ouch! I had read a post of one Safari owner getting a sender from Beaver Coach on Bend Oregon. After a bit of hunting they said they had one in stock for $259. Yikes!
The resistor unit is standard old GM 0-90 ohm unit.
I started thinking if I could just get a GM resistor I could repair the sender myself.
A little hunting around turned up an aftermarket universal GM fuel sender. Only $28 at my local auto parts store.
The resistor unit unbolts from the bracket so I figured I could probably graft it on to my existing sender hardware. It turned out to be better than that. Closer inspection revealed that some simple modifications would turn the new sender into a direct replacement.
The old sender has an up arrow. I marked the new sender so I wouldn't put it in crooked.
After taking the extension rail out of the new sender and screwing it back together it's really close to being like the old one.
I made a bend in the new resistor arm to match the angle of the old sender. The float arm on the old sender was obviously better quality that what came with the new one so I cut it off and attached it to the unit.
All done. Just like the old one and I'm only $28 poorer.
As soon as the rain stops I'll put the coach back together and fill the tank.
This sender is an Equus 9982 There are others that are the same or similar like Dorman 55818.
If you are lucky and your coach has the sending unit in the side of the tank this isn't too tough of a job. On my Ivory there is a 3" hole in the frame inboard of the left front tire. Looking in that hole you can see the sender. It's a little higher than the frame hole so the straps that support the tank have to be loosened to allow it to drop down a bit. Plan ahead, do this job when the tank is mostly empty to avoid a big mess or the extra work of draining a bunch of fuel out of the tank.
Here's the hole in the frame with the sending unit visible in the shadows. The wire in the foreground is the ground which should be checked first before doing anything else. A bad ground will prevent the gauge from working.
Click on the picture for a bigger image.
Next I coaxed the sender out of hiding. Even with the tank lowered the frame hole didn't line up very well with the sender. It was a challenge getting all the nuts loose and the sender detached but here it is.
The tank and sender on my coach were manufactured by Transfer Flow. They are still in business so I called them. Unfortunately, they haven't made these sending units for many years. They did offer to rebuild the sender for $180-$200. Ouch! I had read a post of one Safari owner getting a sender from Beaver Coach on Bend Oregon. After a bit of hunting they said they had one in stock for $259. Yikes!
The resistor unit is standard old GM 0-90 ohm unit.
I started thinking if I could just get a GM resistor I could repair the sender myself.
A little hunting around turned up an aftermarket universal GM fuel sender. Only $28 at my local auto parts store.
The resistor unit unbolts from the bracket so I figured I could probably graft it on to my existing sender hardware. It turned out to be better than that. Closer inspection revealed that some simple modifications would turn the new sender into a direct replacement.
The old sender has an up arrow. I marked the new sender so I wouldn't put it in crooked.
After taking the extension rail out of the new sender and screwing it back together it's really close to being like the old one.
I made a bend in the new resistor arm to match the angle of the old sender. The float arm on the old sender was obviously better quality that what came with the new one so I cut it off and attached it to the unit.
All done. Just like the old one and I'm only $28 poorer.
As soon as the rain stops I'll put the coach back together and fill the tank.
This sender is an Equus 9982 There are others that are the same or similar like Dorman 55818.