95 XP intermittent fuel gauge

[CreekerMike]

Greetings and salutations to all.
Took my 95 XP 720 out this weekend on the river. Fueled up before hand and my gauge was functioning flawlessly. After about 30 minutes my fuel bars disappeared and the light came on. (I figured the baffle took a crap) Fast forward to this morning and I did some troubleshooting. The float was fine (I have the most recent white plastic float) and the screen on the bottom was intact. I swapped baffles for one in unknown condition. No dice.... until about 20 minutes into my ride then my gauge started to function again. On my way back in my gauge was functioning then poof. 1 bar or fuel left then the light. To my understanding a faulty gauge is unlikely. My idea is further backed up by the fact that I can jump the connector and get full bars.

All in all I'm leaning towards a bad baffle. Should I replace this with the same part number or should I go to another model where it has the f1 fuse that can be soldered over?

Any ideas or thoughts are much apreciated. -Creeker Mike

 

[CreekerMike]

Bump

 

[Lothsahn]

I'm no expert, but that sounds like a loose electrical connection to me. I'd check continuity of the wiring from the fuel sender to the mpem.

 

[CreekerMike]

I'm no expert, but that sounds like a loose electrical connection to me. I'd check continuity of the wiring from the fuel sender to the mpem.

Where would you suggest I probe?

 

[Lothsahn]

Since the gas gauge is switching between empty and full the way it is, I suspect it's something like a loose connection or a corroded wire/connection. I'd check the wires with an ohmmeter all the way from the fuel sender (which, based on your description you know where it is) to the MPEM (which is a computer, likely in a waterproof grey box). There should be only one wire or set of wires going from the fuel sender unit--so you'll want to trace them all the way back to the computer, measuring resistance on each end of the wire to find what part may have gone bad. If you see any corrosion (green/rusty material), be sure to clean it nicely with a wire brush, plastic safe electronic contact cleaner, and then reconnect it with a nice helping of dielectric grease.

 

[CreekerMike]

Since the gas gauge is switching between empty and full the way it is, I suspect it's something like a loose connection or a corroded wire/connection. I'd check the wires with an ohmmeter all the way from the fuel sender (which, based on your description you know where it is) to the MPEM (which is a computer, likely in a waterproof grey box). There should be only one wire or set of wires going from the fuel sender unit--so you'll want to trace them all the way back to the computer, measuring resistance on each end of the wire to find what part may have gone bad. If you see any corrosion (green/rusty material), be sure to clean it nicely with a wire brush, plastic safe electronic contact cleaner, and then reconnect it with a nice helping of dielectric grease.

I went ahead and regreased all the connections pertaining to the fuel gauge along with any others on the way.No dice, pulled the baffle out and voila the magnet had fallen out. I was able to recover it from the tank. However I switched back to my non functional baffle and now its functioning. I guess the original failure was a connection and the most recent failure was the float popping out. Apreciate your input!

 

[CreekerMike]

Back to square one. I switched baffles and now its back to the gas light. Seems like out of the tank if I push the magnet around I can get it to read but when inside the tank (even though there's a half a tank of gas) it won't read unless its at full. May just go ahead and replace the baffle. I know the odds are low but maybe something is jacked up on both.

 

[Lothsahn]

There's a guy on ebay that repairs the fuel sender unit on ebay. It was something like $50 and his fix worked great.

 

[CreekerMike]

There's a guy on ebay that repairs the fuel sender unit on ebay. It was something like $50 and his fix worked great.

I believe that's only for the next year and up and so on. From what I've read the 95 xp baffle is irreparable due to the layout of the pcb. Would u by chance know if a 96 or 97 xp baffle would fit and function? I know they changed the hull in 97 but I feel like a 96 baffle should work.

 

[CreekerMike]

Never mind the 96 has the same part number. Also irrepairable.