Dodgy fuel gauge

[Merlot man]

Hello all
I've a 95 TD bus and for the last few weeks the fuel gauge is not working at all well , she is full at the minute but reads between a quarter and half depending on when you look .
Any ideas as to what's going on and how to fix it
Thanks in advance
Brian

[teenmal]

This is from Allan's garage Plymouth....

How to fix a Mazda Bongo fuel gauge. No drilling needed. It’s common for the fuel gauge to read either intermittently or not at all. This is usually due to an earth fault. Try this simple fix.

Kneel down beside the driver’s door, look underneath your Bongo. You’ll see the rectangular bulge of the fuel tank under the floor. A ‘lipped’ seam runs around the tank. This seam has holes pre-drilled into it. Now look towards the rear of the Bongo. Just in front of the driver’s side rear wheel there’s a ‘T’ shaped metal plate that runs from the sill to the chassis. There are 2 holes pre-drilled in it. Or, just behind the offside pillar, there’s a 10mm nut that holds hoses in place. Select a hole on the tank, and either a hole on the plate, or the 10mm nut. Clean the metal around these holes, to enable good contact with the earth wire you will make. Measure the distance between the holes. Cut a length of electrical wire to this length. Attach an eyelet connector to each end of wire. Attach the connectors using self-tapping screws or small nut & and bolt. The job's done. If this hasn’t fixed the fuel gauge fault, contact us, we can fix it.

[Merlot man]

Thanks for the quick reply teenmal
So basically we are earthing the tank to the chassis, right ?
Brian

[ever after.]

I came across this recently and its on the things to do list for now

https://youtu.be/sYEPNy6PyOk

[g8dhe]

So basically we are earthing the tank to the chassis, right ?

Correct because the original piece of wire on the top has rusted/corroded away leaving the tank and the sensor poorly earthed and hence the low reading on the gauge;

[Merlot man]

Thanks for the replies gents , a project for the weekend
Do you mind me asking where your based ever after , I'm in Co Clare .
Brian

[g8dhe]

See the lefthand panel for names, locations etc. at the top of each post.

[ever after.]

Thanks for the replies gents , a project for the weekend
Do you mind me asking where your based ever after , I'm in Co Clare .
Brian

I'm in Co. Limerick

[Merlot man]

Just to update this post I did as I was advise Ie Earth the tank to the body and it has worked a charm
Thank you all for your help
Brian

[CatBusFreda]

Hi guys,

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. Our fuel gauge has never got further than the first marker (one after empty). We added the earth wire from the chassis to the tank as suggested, is there anything else we can try?

Thanks.

[g8dhe]

What vehicle are you it only affects diesel engines, if your petrol and the gauge isn't reading correctly then its usally the sender in the tank itself.

[CatBusFreda]

Ours is a 2.5l 4wd diesel.