“UPDATE” Fuel Gauge Not Working After Fuel Pump Swap

[Candy10]

Shop has had my car a couple weeks for few parts, including a fuel pump which is the last item to get done. Swapped in a DW400 for the stock pump, no changes to any other parts on the pump assembly. They called me on Friday and said the pump is in and car is “ready”, but the gas gauge isn’t working. Even asked me if there was a gauge issue before bringing the car in, (trying to avoid fixing their fuckup, I presume).

They found this out Friday, and here we are on Tuesday and they can’t figure it out. One of the techs told me he thinks it’s something to do with the Kenne Bell boost-a-pump, which doesn’t make any sense to me. I think they bent the float arm or otherwise damaged the sending unit through careless installation.

What are some things I can suggest to them to check, as I’m questioning their competence pretty strongly at this point

 

[Dino Dino Bambino]

They must have fucked up the sending unit when they swapped the new fuel pump into the original assembly.
You can suggest that they check the sending unit. The float could simply be stuck. The problem shouldn't be difficult for a competent mechanic to diagnose and fix, assuming the shop is actually bothered to do that without charging you extra.

 

[86GT351]

They must have fucked up the sending unit when they swapped the new fuel pump into the original assembly.
You can suggest that they check the sending unit. The float could simply be stuck. The problem shouldn't be difficult for a competent mechanic to diagnose and fix, assuming the shop is actually bothered to do that without charging you extra.

This!

 

[Candy10]

They must have fucked up the sending unit when they swapped the new fuel pump into the original assembly.
You can suggest that they check the sending unit. The float could simply be stuck. The problem shouldn't be difficult for a competent mechanic to diagnose and fix, assuming the shop is actually bothered to do that without charging you extra.

Exactly my thoughts. I’m no guru, but I know a little about a lot of things, and this is just getting irritating at this point. Especially after their phone call yesterday, and sleeping on it. I may just take it as is, try to get them to leave the fuel pump install off the labor bill since it’s not working right, and take it elsewhere to get that part fixed.

Shitty thing is, i was going to bring the car back to them later this year for some more performance oriented parts and a dyno tune, but if they can’t get these simple installs done correctly how can I trust them with more involved items?

 

[Candy10]

Just got a call from the shop helper (why not the tech?), gauge is fixed but the poor kid didn’t know how to tell me what they found or how they fixed it. Some sort of screw grounding itself out. Anyway, Going to pick up in the morning, and will be doing a very thorough inspection of all parts installed, and having a long man-to-man with the owner.

 

[JC SSP]

Hey at least they fixed it. Take a cold beer to the shop helper...

 

[Doug Huggard]

I bet they used the extra ground on the DW harness and attached it to the level sender ground screw. Ask me how I know lol

 

[Candy10]

I bet they used the extra ground on the DW harness and attached it to the level sender ground screw. Ask me how I know lol

Hahaha, close. Since the dw unit is bigger than stock, somehow the tip of one of the mounting screws was contacting the pump itself. So slightly, which I guess is the reason it was hard to see/find. She’s all good now though, safe back in her own garage.

 

[Candy10]

They took forever to do the job, but it’s kind of a blessing in disguise. Since the car was gone over so thoroughly, they discovered, via the new wideband install, that the car pegs lean at WOT with the current tune, I’ve been driving the hell out of this thing most weekends for 3 years and never even knew, because I fully trusted the shop used a good tuner. Don’t know if I should drop the name of the tuner, but you can find it in my other recent posts. One member warned me he had “mixed reviews” when I was considering going to back to him. Glad I held off

EDIT: full rich, not full lean. Rich is ok, pegging the gauge is not