Fuel Sender Issue

[Team PCBeach]

Cross posting here as the 360 Thread is pretty quiet in the winter....

2003 360 with a port fuel sender issue. I had the marina look at it before we moved and they said the tank was not accessible so they just cleaned up some connectors. Problem still exists. Sometimes when we start up, the gauge works, other times (mostly) it doesn't. It is not the gauge as the physical gauge and the smart craft data on the MFD read the same. I have not really worried about it since I just double the STBD fuel reading and figure that is pretty close, so it is really more of an annoyance. I hate things that don't work though so am willing to trouble shoot if there are any ideas.

 

[The Bill Collector]

I had the marina look at it before we moved and they said the tank was not accessible

My starboard sender was dead when we bought the boat 13+ years ago and I found the access in our aft stateroom bookshelf/storage nook. I wouldn't rely on the marina guy, I would start going down the rabbit hole to find that access.

 

[dtfeld]

If it works part time, you either have a bad sender, sender connecting wire or a bad ground.

Based on your boat age, I’d bet a bad sender followed by a lose connection on the sender wire. I believe the sender wires are pink or pink/white.

Go into the bilge and look over the top of the tank, find the top of the sender, and estimate where in the boat has access. It may as Bill Collector says, be down a rabbit hole.

but there is an access...

 

[Henry Boyd]

Cross posting here as the 360 Thread is pretty quiet in the winter....

2003 360 with a port fuel sender issue. I had the marina look at it before we moved and they said the tank was not accessible so they just cleaned up some connectors. Problem still exists. Sometimes when we start up, the gauge works, other times (mostly) it doesn't. It is not the gauge as the physical gauge and the smart craft data on the MFD read the same. I have not really worried about it since I just double the STBD fuel reading and figure that is pretty close, so it is really more of an annoyance. I hate things that don't work though so am willing to trouble shoot if there are any ideas.

On our 280 the tank sender was spastic. But the smartcraft fuel consumption data was uncannily spot on for the 496 (sterndrive version of the 8.1). The Smartcraft cumulative fuel consumption for a trip is not a function of change in fuel tank readings but based on a calculation of the fuel consumed (rpm, injection duration, number of bursts, etc). I used to set the fuel burned to date to zero at fill up and based the next fill up off volume of fuel consumed since the last trip to the fuel dock. The actual fill up was usually within 5% of where the trip data. This is in the Vessel section if memory serves.

 

[Team PCBeach]

Thanks all, I will try to trace down the wires to see if I can find where the sender is, then see if I can get to it from the cabin. Great tip @Henry Boyd ! next time I fill up I will find the fuel consumption data on vessel view. That will be even better than just doubling the STBD as I will just be missing the generator usage.

 

[Henry Boyd]

Thanks all, I will try to trace down the wires to see if I can find where the sender is, then see if I can get to it from the cabin. Great tip @Henry Boyd ! next time I fill up I will find the fuel consumption data on vessel view. That will be even better than just doubling the STBD as I will just be missing the generator usage.

The 280 has the SC5000 System Monitor that pre dated the Vessel View, but the functions should be there somewhere, it’s pretty common. Although the new boat doesn’t have Smartcraft, Volvo fortunately has an equivalent software that has the same function. My fuel tanks have a tapered cross section, so even when the gauges are working accurately, I still have to consult a chart to get true actual volume. So I use the trip fuel consumption from the engine software rather than screw around with the fuel gauge.