It's a car, it's always fixable. The first step to trouble shooting a gas gauge, is to look up under the drivers side rear of the car at the gas tank. You will see the rubber gas line and a wire that connects to the side of the tank. Unplug the wire and short the two terminals together with a paper clip or something. Turn the key to the ON position. If the gas gauge sweeps to full, the sending unit is your problem (it is the most common cause of a non working gas gauge). If not, we will have to to do further trouble shooting, including pulling the instrument cluster to test the gauge itself.
i shorted the terminals together first with tin foil (to do it alone) but then i used a screwdriver (with a buddy) and both times nothing happend so what do i do now?
not to be a smartarse but after shorting them together did you turn the keyswitch to the "on" position ??
Did check to be sure there is no corrosion or anything in the plug? How did you short the terminals together with a screw driver? I'm not talking about the ones on the gas tank, I'm talking about the "female" plug itself that you need to stick a paper clip or something in. Sometimes you have to wiggle it around a little before you get a good connection if there is any corrosion in the plug. You can use a small file or small flathead screw driver to scrap away the corrosion.
It just so happens that my gas guage was also dead. Shorted the body harness as your recommended & voila tank is full. Guess I'll be buying me a new sending unit. Thanks Jamie & good luck Rocker...
Have you checked the 5 volt regulator that powers the gauge? They have a habit of failing and that would give you the symptoms.
Just to clarify something...when you short the plug like this the guage IS going to show full, regardless of the amount of gas you have. Just didn't want you to think you have plenty of gas and go run out somewhere.
