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Filled the tank this morning on the way to work. 10 gallons total in the tank (half full):



Full tank. That can't be good.



Good back down to normal when the car is turned off.



Without my multimeter I can't check the resistance properly. But my guess is this sender is out of spec for the car. I may just have to get a new one.

If the resistance checks out and you want to try and fine tune the arm on that sender there are a couple of possibilities.

First would be to get a piece of straight stainless music wire the same diameter as the arm and a couple of electrical inline butt connectors to fit the wire. Connectors can be found at most parts stores if you don't have any and the wire at Amazon and some local hardware or hobby stores. Cut a length off the stainless wire as needed to extend the arm. Some space will added by the connectors since the wire will not go thru the stop in the middle of the connector. Cut the new length a bit shorter than what is needed to take the connector additions into account. Use the connectors and tightly crimp the new piece of wire into place. If the connectors are the insulated type I would take the plastic covering off but better would be to get bare non insulated connectors.

Another option would be to replace the arm and float entirely using a new plastic float such as this one.

Bend the wire in a 90 to support the new float and cut the other side of the wire to the length needed. With the old arm cut off somewhere just making sure the overall new arm will be the proper length, use the same crimp method to attach the new arm.

The needle going all the way to full suggests to me that you may have a short in the sender wire. I would check this first as it is a lot easier than dropping the tank.

Howard - I'll just have to order a new multimeter. No idea where mine went....probably lent it out to someone and it's lost to the wind. Good idea on cutting the wire and using connectors. I may need to try that.

John - No short in the sender wire. The needle on the gauge moves in accordance to how much fuel is in the tank, it doesn't just pin itself immediately to Full. This latest series of pictures was a test to see how the sender worked after I bent the float arm. It appears the ohms range on the sender is greater than what the gauge is designed for. I'll have to test it with a multimeter. I won't have to drop the tank again (thank goodness) because I finally cut a hole in my trunk floor. Should've done that years ago.