fuel gauge -- any suggestions?

[Omatako]

Originally Posted by JimsCAL

The fuel tank sensors have a varible resistor that is in the tank and exposed to the fuel. Water may short these out.

Yes I wondered about that but I'm not sure what the difference is between fuel and water. I sort of figured that they would act similarly.

[JimsCAL]

Originally Posted by Omatako

Yes I wondered about that but I'm not sure what the difference is between fuel and water. I sort of figured that they would act similarly.

I was surprised when I found out that the fuel tank sensor was constructed that way, but I guess the fuel doesn't short out the resistor like water would. Looks like the WEMA sensors (which work in water tanks) noted above have the same standard resistance charteristics and would work in a system with one display with standard fuel sensors from other manufacturers.

[Mystiko]

Want to add a fuel sender to a an aluminum diesel fuel tank. Is it ok just to drill into it with a hole saw when there is diesel fuel in the tank, taking care to vacuum up the cuttings as it is being cut with a shop vac so little falls into the tank? Is this safe or will the battery drill motor spark/s or heat from the friction of the drill be unsafe?

Thanks, and happy holidays.

[mitiempo]

Hi
Don't put your emasil address in your post as you will get spam,
As far as the fuel sender, there will be bits you can't get with the vacuum and they could be a problem later. If the tank is aluminum and you go slowly there shouldn't be sparks. Hope this helps.

[klem]

With diesel fuel, this is not unsafe however it is extremely difficult to keep the chips out of the tank. If you can't drain the tank and then flush it several times afterwards, I would suggest one of two methods.

One method is to pressurize the tank and use a shop vac on the outside with the hope that all the chips will go out. This will work reasonably well as long as you keep the drill really straight and don't punch through one place before you punch through another.

The other method is to drill most of the way through, stop and clean, then put heavy grease on the bit which will hopefully make all of the chips stick to it.

You can also combine the methods. Fortunately I have always been able to drain the tank and then clean it afterwards but I have had to drill several exhaust manifolds with the above procedures.

Make sure you have a good fuel filter setup if you are doing this.