[alfa] Fuel level indications on 164

[AlfaRs@xxxxxxx]

Ok guys a small annoyance with the wife's 93' 164.

Ever since we bought this car the fuel gage is erratic.
It works normal down to half a tank then swings wildly
between < and =. The low level lamp will usually follow
this blinking on and off and after a while stays
on constantly.  The gauge never reads below < tank and the
light does provide a correct indication (ran it out of gas once
shortly after the purchase).  I had assumed this was a bad sending
unit.  Well I installed a replacement and I have the same indications?
Last night I grabbed the multi meter and checked the resistances
of the old sending unit per the table in the manual.  I didn't actually
submerge the sending unit in fluid as the manual suggests
but I used a piece of wire in the drain hole to move the float
up and down.  What I found was that the sender seems to work
ok except that as you lower the float the resistance only goes as high
as about 189 ohms then goes to infinite.  This sounds like a
typical failure where there is an opening in the windings
inside the sender but what I don't understand is why when
the fuel level reaches this point why doesn't the gauge
read zero or full or swing wildly one way or the other?
it just stays at < tank or so?

This weekend I'll pull out the new sender and run some tests
and probably slave in a potentiometer to see if I can get the
gauge to read where it should at the set resistances.  I was just
wondering if anyone had delt with this before.

Thanks in advance,

Dave McCrory
Maryville, TN
93' 164
87' Verde
87' Platinum
87' Gold
76' Spider
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