Did anyone else with the Speedhut fuel level gauge have issues calibrating it?

I was able to calibrate it before but it would show empty at just under half a tank. I remember having issues calibrating it last time but I don't remember what I did to finally get it to work, and this time it's not working for me at all. I've done it numerous times by the directions, and I've even tried different things like cycling power in between setting empty and full (I'm doing manual calibration since none of their settings are close enough). At first I was trying it with the hanger pulled out and moving the float by hand and had no luck, and I seem to remember being successful last time by setting it when I filled up the car. However, I tried that tonight with no luck. It's really getting aggravating because now I have no way of knowing how much fuel I have other than guessing based on miles driven.

I have an FD btw but I don't think that would make a difference. And I'm using the stock sensor and float. I would think maybe it's the sensor itself but it was working before. And the guage is a Revolution model to be exact.

 

Have you contacted their tech support? I've used their live chat before and they were very helpful. Also, with a lifetime warranty perhaps something is malfunctioning and needs repair/replacement by them. Start the conversation with them and see where their troubleshooting gets you.

 

Yeah I emailed them last night after I posted this. The response I got so far was just asking if I'd followed the directions lol, which I did, and then some. What I was left with so far is a suggestion to test the float sensor, which seems like a reasonable request other than the fact that it just worked on the last calibration. I'm still going to test it though just to be sure.

I really don't feel like pulling this gauge and sending it back to them, but I'll do that if I have to.

 

I decided to finally look into the fuel level float sensor. I tested it and it showed 6 ohms full and 82.6 ohms empty, but in between it would go erratic sometimes. So I thought maybe it was the sensor but I decided to change where I put the ground cable for the hanger and see if that changed anything. It certainly did.

I rested the ground wire against the hanger that the sensor was bolted/grounded to. When I removed the wire the gauge would fall back to empty after a second or two. Now it's calibrated at all the way up for full and all the way down for empty, and although I'd rather have it calibrated with a couple gallons left at empty, I decided not to try my luck for now and just go with it lol. I might still get a new sensor, but they're a bit more than I thought, at $114. This one is over 20 years old and fairly worn. Hard telling when it'll go out, although after 20 years it still operates alright for the most part, so I guess they don't fail that often. Knock on wood.

 

A year or two ago I started having issues again and discovered that the taps I was using on the stock wiring behind the cluster were too loose, so I ran the Speedhut wiring all the way to the back and tapped directly into the wiring coming out of the fuel pump hanger. That worked for quite a while. Now I'm back to having issues again. For the last few months it's been reading all over the place, but at least if I filled the tank it would read close to full for a bit and I knew roughly how far I could drive. In the last couple weeks it's been reading around 1/4 tank to empty, but now it pretty much just stays on empty.

I pulled the hanger out and tested the ohms reading on the sensor again. It's doing OK for the most part, but the numbers jump around in a couple places while moving the float between empty and full, and then settle into the correct readings again. I also recalibrated the gauge using the 70E-10F setting at the 1/4 tank hash mark but the needle still doesn't move when I'm moving the float. I emailed Speedhut to see if using that setting would be OK since it's close but not exactly on my 82ish-5 ohms readings. I hope so because that would finally have the gauge reading all the way full when it's full and it will read empty a little early, which I prefer.

I'm ordering a new sensor from A.I. One Design, hopefully that cures it. I have pulled the dash a few more times since the last time I posted in this thread, maybe I damaged the wires at some point when reinstalling, but they've looked OK so far. I'm going to pull the cluster back out and verify the ohms readings at the gauge as well.

 

Turns out I wasn't grounding to the right part. I was grounding to the chassis instead of the fuel hanger. DOH! Speedhut did say to ground to the fuel hanger basically, and I feel like they told me this before too haha. Once I changed that, the needle jumped when turning on the key (something Speedhut suggested to indicate getting power and ground), and the needle moved through the whole range. Although it did drop to empty at one point, so the sensor needs to be replaced regardless. 28 years old, I guess it had a good run.

The 70-10 setting works pretty well actually. It will read full for a bit before dropping, and the rest of the range reads fairly close, but not perfect. At what should be about 1/4 tank on the float reads between 1/4 and 1/2 on the gauge if I remember right. And empty with the float is probably reading a little higher than it should on the gauge, unless you've solved the fuel slosh issues and/or are using a Holley Hydramat. I might keep using this setting and just set my red light to come on a little earlier. Since I haven't solved the fuel slosh issues yet, I can only use down to about 1/4 tank.

Anyway, the new level sensor should hopefully solve this issue finally.

 

I got the new level sensor in yesterday and that fixed all the issues. Turns out I had broken the lower tab that holds the float arm in place so it was allowed to move away from the board. Hard telling how long this has been broken, but it's all good now. And I ended up not using the 70-10 calibration. I set full to a little lower than the fullest position of the float arm, and I set empty to about 1/4 of the way from the bottom of the lowest position.
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/159205146@N07/, on Flickr
by https://www.flickr.com/photos/159205146@N07/, on Flickr

 

I’m having the same issues as you, can you provide more clarification on the ground you fixed?

Considering getting the Holley lidar fuel sensor, but I can’t seem to find anything confirming it works with the speedhut fuel gauge we have.

 

I've fixed a grounding issue on this a couple different times lol, which one are you referring to? The first time I just had the ground for the gauge going to a vampire clip on the ground wire at the cluster, and once I changed that and ran the wiring all the way back to the tank, it fixed some issues. But then apparently I still didn't run the ground to the right place, I think I ran it to chassis ground instead of to the hanger. It's been years since I did this so I don't really remember everything. I ground some of the anodizing off the top of the CJM hanger so it could ground better, but it only helped a little, if any.

More recently I swapped to a custom digital display and I've been having issues getting the fuel level right, so I just finished running it to the ECU and then I'll send it from there to the display. And if that doesn't help anything I'll change to a different type of float. I take this car on long trips sometimes, I can't be having issues with the fuel level. I saw that Lidar sensor, I wasn't sure how that would work. The sensor I've been looking at is from KUS, it's a magnetic reed float and they're supposedly more reliable and accurate than our type of float. David Hayes posted a few years ago about swapping to one, I messaged him a couple days ago but haven't heard back yet.

 

Any of the grounds I need to change at this point, tired of dicking around with this speedhut gauge. It seemed to work okay when I first installed the gauge but could never get it to read exactly right. Now it just moves to whatever reading it’s feeling today and then moves around from there. Oem fuel level sensor is NLA apparently, so looking for different more accurate options.

 

AI One Designs sells the fuel level kit that replaces the whole thing, or you can get just the rheostat on Ebay for about $55 and swap just that. Most of my issues with the fuel level were cured by running the Speedhut wires all the way to the tank and replacing the sender. Those two changes made the biggest difference for me. Even if you just solder the ground wire to the wire behind the cluster, as long as you're not using a tap, that should help.

That being said, I never fully fixed the fuel level issue to where it was perfect every time, at least not yet. I still need to play with the Haltech settings to make sure it will read correctly.

 

Speedhut verified that the fuel level gauge we have is compatible with the Holley Easy Level lidar sender. Think I may try going that route.

 

A possible solution that I am currently trying on a 1988 Ford Ranger is from Tanks Inc. (the ohms for the stock fuel gauge matches absolutely nothing else in existence).
Standalone reed magnetic sender and their adjustment box for any resistance type gauge. The box is so I can match my sender to the stock gauge and dial it in for accuracy. They have several different types of senders.

 

That's exactly the type of sender I was planning on trying. I figured I'd put it near the right rear corner of the baffle, just outside of it, since there is some extra space there on top of the tank before it drops down to meet the spare tire. The tank would have to be pulled to install it and if it ever needed servicing, but I don't imagine it would. I was talking to KUS about theirs but they never got back to me about whether the float is good with ethanol. I don't think it is though. But I've never run ethanol and possibly never will, so that might be a moot point lol.

With the Speedhut gauges or the digital dash, it doesn't matter what the values are, but I know that's a pain for the stock gauge. I thought Dakota Digital made something to match values but maybe I'm thinking of something else it's for. But it's good to see there are other options either way. That's a handy kit.

So far, I THINK running it to the ECU first is working OK, although I haven't messed with it much. I had a full tank when I went to do the rewire so I pump out all the fuel I could into four jerry cans, and I added about 3 or 4 gallons back in and it read 76% on the fuel gauge. I KNOW that isn't right lol. I haven't set the values for my specific sender, I just used them from another thread on the forum so far. But after I dumped in the rest of the fuel it read 88% one night, and the next night it read between 96% and down to the low 90s after some driving. It might be reading too high, but at least for a couple days it's been consistent, so we'll see. At some point I'll go in and adjust the values so they're specific to my sender, but I wanted to see if this gets me close at least. If not, I'll most likely switch to one of those senders at some point.

 

According to the company the Meter Match box works with any sender/gauge combination. It is simply an inline adjustment tool that can be set to correct inaccurate readings. You probably won't need to replace the sensor itself. I went with the sensor only because I had to replace the two stage pumps on the Ranger with a new in-tank pump stand to incorporate a single high pressure in tank aftermarket pump and Fuel injection tray, (seeing as Ford didn't bother to do it at the factory). This left me with no way to use the factory sensor. Requiring me to install the stand alone.
The application doesn't even have to be a fuel gauge, it can work with oil pressure and temperature gauges as well, really any gauge that senses resistance. It also has high and low alarm settings to activate a light and or buzzer if you are oblivious while driving like me. I will be finding out how well this works, or doesn't, soon. I am in the process of fixing the Ranger. I really hope it works as advertised as I have several applications that I would like to use it for on my SA project.

 

Oh I'll be changing the sender regardless if I can't get a good reading out of it. I have it going to the Haltech now and then reading to the digital display, and if it's not consistent I'll be swapping it. I guess I could try that box, but I have no idea if it would work either. Haltech sells a signal conditioner, but I'm not sure that would help with this either if the sender itself is inconsistent.

Are you building the Ranger into a performance truck or just trying to get it back on the road? What all are you planning to use this for on the SA?