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Gas Gage Question #13606447 06/24/20 02:49 PM
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Fishbonz Online Content OP
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WHY does my Gas Gage bounce!!!??? It`s an older boat (Ranger 361V) and it only happens when i`m on plane Has anyone else ever experienced this on their boat before?


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Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Fishbonz] #13606509 06/24/20 03:25 PM
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jazz Offline
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mine would kind of tick back and forth while running . Turned out to be bad sender

Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: jazz] #13606595 06/24/20 04:44 PM
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Originally Posted by jazz
mine would kind of tick back and forth while running . Turned out to be bad sender

Mine has two tanks could both senders be bad?


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Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Fishbonz] #13607391 06/25/20 10:12 AM
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Fishbonz it was my was my tachometer that was bouncing on me not the fuel gauge but I had a loose wire.. it was on the back of the tach. I tightened the nut and it quit. Just thought I would mention it. I agree with two sending units both to fail is not likely.,

Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Coolarrow] #13607485 06/25/20 01:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Coolarrow
Fishbonz it was my was my tachometer that was bouncing on me not the fuel gauge but I had a loose wire.. it was on the back of the tach. I tightened the nut and it quit. Just thought I would mention it. I agree with two sending units both to fail is not likely.,
Thanks Coolarrow! I`ll give that a look see.
thumb


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Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Fishbonz] #13623919 07/08/20 09:02 PM
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Its a Ranger 300 series thing. Some did, some did not. The design of the original sender let it flop around. Ran several of them on memo bills from Ranger, every one did it to some extent. Tanks had little or no baffles also. First Ranger they sent me that did not was a 481


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Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Fishbonz] #13623938 07/08/20 09:21 PM
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I bought a 2014 Ranger RT188. The gage would only go to half full when the tank was full,...so got a new one.
Second one would show 3/4 full when full, so got another one. Third one would stick at full and not move, so I
got a new one. Fourth and final one shows 3/4 full when full, and never goes below a half empty.
Good news is my Merc 115 sips gas, and I can see how much gas is in the tank when I open the battery access
door....way to go Ranger... mad

Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: JIM SR.] #13623963 07/08/20 09:43 PM
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Originally Posted by JIM SR.
I bought a 2014 Ranger RT188. The gage would only go to half full when the tank was full,...so got a new one.
Second one would show 3/4 full when full, so got another one. Third one would stick at full and not move, so I
got a new one. Fourth and final one shows 3/4 full when full, and never goes below a half empty.
Good news is my Merc 115 sips gas, and I can see how much gas is in the tank when I open the battery access
door....way to go Ranger... mad


simple adjustment, fill tank, pull sender, gently bend arm up till it shows full and reinstall.

assuming it is not the type that goes vertically on a shaft, no idea how to adjust those.


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Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Fishbonz] #13623997 07/08/20 10:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Fishbonz
WHY does my Gas Gage bounce!!!??? It`s an older boat (Ranger 361V) and it only happens when i`m on plane Has anyone else ever experienced this on their boat before?

The gas "gauge" (not gage) is a simple voltmeter. It measure the voltage from an electromechanical sender on/in the fuel tank. That stuff in the tank is liquid. There is a stiff wire arm that extends into the tank with a float on the end that floats in the liquid. As the floating float moves the wire arm up or down, the voltage from the "fuel sender" changes due to a voltage divider built into the assembly. So, when you make the contents of the tank slosh around, the float will move up/down abruptly enough to change the reading detected by the gauge. Nothing is "broken" - this is just the nature of a rudimentary fuel gauge system. There are more accurate fuel systems available - assuming you'd like to pay $300+ to get one.

Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Fishbonz] #13623999 07/08/20 10:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Fishbonz
Originally Posted by jazz
mine would kind of tick back and forth while running . Turned out to be bad sender

Mine has two tanks could both senders be bad?

The fuel in both tanks sloshes around - not just in one tank.

Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Rich12] #13624004 07/08/20 10:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Rich12
Its a Ranger 300 series thing. Some did, some did not. The design of the original sender let it flop around. Ran several of them on memo bills from Ranger, every one did it to some extent. Tanks had little or no baffles also. First Ranger they sent me that did not was a 481

I've owned several brands of boats since the early 80s. I've never seen one with a poly tank that had baffles. All were open blow-mold containers that allowed fuel to slosh freely.

Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: JIM SR.] #13624011 07/08/20 10:13 PM
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Originally Posted by JIM SR.
I bought a 2014 Ranger RT188. The gage would only go to half full when the tank was full,...so got a new one.
Second one would show 3/4 full when full, so got another one. Third one would stick at full and not move, so I
got a new one. Fourth and final one shows 3/4 full when full, and never goes below a half empty.
Good news is my Merc 115 sips gas, and I can see how much gas is in the tank when I open the battery access
door....way to go Ranger... mad


It's the sender that typically has the crude resolution of reading the tank level, not the gauge. As for blaming Ranger, they're just using standard components like virtually every boat company out there. The resistive wiper voltage divider is prone to tarnish/corrosion/wear, and that affects accuracy, along with the fact that the sender is a crude device, so rarely will two read the same, even on a known good gauge, or a calibrated voltmeter. There are some premier senders available for about $300 if you feel that adjusting the float of a $30 sender isn't accurate enough for you.

You should read up on marine fuel measurement systems and how they work. It's far less common to have gauge issues than sender issues. The gauge is a precision instrument in comparison to the sender. I'm not clear if you were replacing the gauge or the sender/float assembly.

Last edited by Flippin-Out; 07/08/20 10:16 PM.
Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Fishbonz] #13625253 07/09/20 11:01 PM
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your sender is a rheostat, think light dimmer.

it uses resistance on the ground circuit to signal the gauge.

academy sells a good one that is really easy to adjust, just read the directions.


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Re: Gas Gage Question [Re: Fishbonz] #13626796 07/11/20 01:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Fishbonz
Originally Posted by Coolarrow
Fishbonz it was my was my tachometer that was bouncing on me not the fuel gauge but I had a loose wire.. it was on the back of the tach. I tightened the nut and it quit. Just thought I would mention it. I agree with two sending units both to fail is not likely.,
Thanks Coolarrow! I`ll give that a look see.
thumb

Thanks for your response CA thumb I simply purchased a new Gage ,installed it , PROBLEM SOLVED!! banana

Last edited by Fishbonz; 07/11/20 01:01 PM.

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