The cleaning process of the Fuel Senders: Lib Wagon

[Bumpty]

After the third time of running out of fuel in only just a couple of months of having my Lib, I chose to face two options.
(not including the option of 'just putting up with it' )

Options:
Buy a pair of new senders, around $350-$400 for two, because I have an AWD it has two tanks due to the drive shaft which runs up under the centre of the car, splitting the tank into two, hence needing two senders for ultimate accuracy.
or
Clean them and see what happens, seeing I have nothing to lose...

I took the Latter option.
I've created a brief walk through for anyone in a similar position.
This Walkthrough was done on an Awd Gen1 93 Lib Wagon, But I'm sure most other wagons would not be much different, as far as Libertys go anyway.

First locating the fuel senders in the back of the wagon.
As per picture, the fuel senders are under the carpeting behind the back seats. (basically where the rubber matting finishes.)



First you will need a phillips head screw driver to under the screws attaching the two plastic strips along the back of the seats to allow the carpet to be folded back. Then unclip two clips which help hold the flooring carpet down. Too easy.

Here are the fuel senders uncovered.




Birds eye view: Left Fuel Sender


Birds eye view: Right Fuel Sender & attached Pump


...And rip straight into them, I chose to do left first as the right one has the pump attached to it and is a little bit more difficult to eject. So the longer you put off doing it the longer you don't have to worry about it .
So simply peel back the hoses (be careful of squirting petrol) and disconnect the lead, then start to undo the nuts with a socket wrench (forgotten size). *Undo the nuts last as its easier to slip the hoses with the plate bolted down.

With a little wrist twisting/lifting, the Left sender should be easier enough pull out. Looks like thisˇ




With a little more wrist twisting/lifting and patience, the Right sender should be able to come out and look like this. With pump still attached!ˇ

Right fuel sender In air


Take both sender units out of the car for the ease of cleaning them.

*Continued in next post*

[Bumpty]

*Continued from first post*

I didn't have a clue what to clean but I think it was pretty obvious what needed the immediate attention.
I used metho with cotton buds but predominately used the stick things with the little cotten heads.

You are cleaning the *white* plastic card which the float arm interacts with.

Here's a before shot!
(pictured, right hand side sender, has a lightly shorter plastic card)



And an after shot!
It's White!



Also its a good idea I think to clean all the surfaces where any connections are made between wires etc, give the filter a scrub as well. Clean the whole unit if you can be bothered


And here is the result of all this trouble,




Although this is useless proof without a before shot.
The needle used to just sit above the next line down and had only done 7.5 ks on a full tank, now the needle is on the top line (stating full).

Please note: Before with dirty senders, the needle would show full but then slowly decline and would never lift back up unless the tank was filled up again, so with this in mind, it shows that the cleaning worked, lifting the needle to the full mark!


*I though this would fit well under 'Trouble shooting', move to wherever if you like

[vincentvega]

let us know if this really has fixed your problem (after a few tanks...)

most of us in libs have dodgy fuel guages, i just drive by the trip meter

[Suba]

Mine works Fine ,,, must be one of the very few though .

Mike.

[Bumpty]

Sure thing, I'll Let it be known in this thread if it works or not.
Suba... I think you "must be one of the very few *lucky* though."

My bros GF just told me she has a bugged gauge in her Gen2 wagon...
So hopefully if time permits I'll be able to try it again, then hopefully if it works we'll have 2 cars being 'Tested' to this theory.

[AlpineRaven]

You used metho yeah? Last time i used electrical contact cleaner and didn't do much, never run out of fuel as I rely fuel light, once the light is on I have estimate of 50-75kms of fuel left, previous Gen 2 sedan AWD had the same problem, cleaned it out with contact cleaner, but this current Liberty I have - I havent been bothered to touch it as I know what the results would be. When on fuel tank after 120kms since last full tank the level decline quickly, by the time I reach 300kms since full it shows on E (I love teasing people who comes with me in my car and they all freak out!)..

Has anyone found a way to stop the contacts becoming dirty?
Cheers
AP

Cheers
AP

[Bumpty]

Yea just metho out of the cupboard, it doesn't look to be abnormal in any way haha. The general chip (the white parts) was pretty easy to clean, the brown stain seemed to rub off after a dosing and and a few rubs.
The little teeth which the float arm interacts with was a little harder but cleaning down with the teeth and not across them it worked wonders I think.

AlpineRaven - "Last time i used electrical contact cleaner and didn't do much"

^Just curious, did you get the chip white with the contact cleaner?

Update on car, Gauge seems to be still accurately responding to the tank.
After 120ks, the needle is sitting above just half way. I think i may be finding out the truth of my ls/ks... I've been flogging it though.

[SUBYDAZZ]

Pencil eraser is good to clean those contacts. From the pics, yours look in good condition (how many km on car?). For most I don't think cleaning helps as the contact surfaces get warn away.

[Bumpty]

DAZZ - The car is about to tick over to 300ks, so I guess if they're in good condition that rather a surprise.

I just cleaned my bros GFs Gen2 wagon senders, hard to tell if it worked because of many things but we think it did work as the needle did lift a cm, We'll be sure when she feels it up and drives it then.
Her car has only done 180ks and hers seemed to of been in worse condition then mine?

Didn't try the eraser this time around tho, as i've only just read your post.

[AlpineRaven]

Its nearly a month now, how is it going?
Cheers
AP

[Bumpty]

... The short story, it doesn't work!

hmm, for the first tank of fuel when I tried it, the needle seem to sit accordingly to what seemed right in the tank (though maybe a few mm's below). And has slowly gotten worse until it sits today, I could argue it is better then what it was but its about 10% - 15% better then what is was, Which is still holy unreliable!

For example; what it is doing now, the needle is sitting at exactly half way and I've only done 150ks on the full tank (easy driving)

Anyhoo, now I know I've done all I can really do before having to go out and buy some fuel senders. Hope this works for someone out there, and from what I've read it seems you'd be lucky.

[SUBYDAZZ]

The major issue I think is not the cleanliness of that part itself, but the fact that it wears as the contact moves over it, at a certain point it loses enough material to give you a poor reading. Not much you can do other than replace I reckon. Mine are still intermittently crap. Sometimes it reads Empty at around the half-tank mark. I always go off the trip-meter.

I should mention that Jaycar has some interesting contact cleaner stuff too.

[AlpineRaven]

The major issue I think is not the cleanliness of that part itself, but the fact that it wears as the contact moves over it, at a certain point it loses enough material to give you a poor reading. Not much you can do other than replace I reckon. Mine are still intermittently crap. Sometimes it reads Empty at around the half-tank mark. I always go off the trip-meter.

I should mention that Jaycar has some interesting contact cleaner stuff too.

No offense, I think its a waste of time trying to clean them... Best way is to buy a new contact part in fuel tank... I know Subaru ones will cost approx $650 for AWD models, FWD models will cost about $280.
Cheers
AP

[Bumpty]

Is it that much for the contact part of the whole kit 'n' caboodle (fuel pump & senders)?

[sven '2']

Ls do the same - none of mine were accurate...until I cleaned the last one i had AND increased the tension of the swinging arm.

Now commonsense will tell you it would either stick when full, waiting 'till the float was above fuel before dropping (ie loosing the sensativity) or wear out faster.

But actually worked?!

sven

[SUBYDAZZ]

The parts are very expensive and I think they only supply the whole unit complete. That's why I've kept with the tripmeter backup. I recall several years ago that the L-Series one was about $80 but I think that has now increased substantially.

Would probably have a few people interested if someone could jig up an aftermarket type, how hard could it be once you know the resistance of the OE unit etc?

[FROG]

The parts are very expensive and I think they only supply the whole unit complete. That's why I've kept with the tripmeter backup. I recall several years ago that the L-Series one was about $80 but I think that has now increased substantially.

Would probably have a few people interested if someone could jig up an aftermarket type, how hard could it be once you know the resistance of the OE unit etc?

just looked a couple of part numbers up and got
85111ga145 80.08 + tax ---=- 8 in australia
85111ga153 80.08 + tax ---=- 3 in australia
85111ga215 156.50 + tax (for digital?) = none left in australia
some one wanna gimme a vin number ?

[SUBYDAZZ]

JF2BFBCR0EJ016xxx try that for 92 Lib senders.

[FROG]

need all the vin so did it with mine 92 gx awd
main sender 85111aa023 150.08 +
sub sender (lh side) 226.96 +

last time we did one it was the sub sender passenger side

cant believe these prices

[nncoolg]

...Has anyone tried moving the contact that 'wipes' around the contacts on the white card, so Its touching a brand new part?

I have never had mine (S2 AWD Legacy) out, so I honestly dont know if it's 'do-able' or not, but interested!!!