Fuel Gauge?

[kentsmith12]

I have a 2000 air nautique and I recently had the internal ballast tanks replaced (cracked) - I just got the boat back a few weeks ago and noticed that my tank was running to empty much faster than I remembered. I have a 30 gallon tank and just the other day with a quarter tank left I decided to filler up. I filled up 14 gallons and topped it off. I was shocked - at first I thought my nautique dealer might have swapped the gas tank. I took it out again yesterday and today and ran the boat until again quarter tank - i didn't put but maybe an hour on it = both days. I pulled the seat and noticed that I still have a 30 gallon tank and even though I have a little less than a quarter tank it looks like there is at least a half tank of 3/4 tank of gas.

I plan to call my dealer tomorrow (I keep the boat 2 hours away and it's a pain to haul it back to the dealer) but do you think that something could have broken in the gas tank - they had to remove it when they replaced the ballast tanks or do I have a bad dash gauge?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[pj]

RE: Fuel Gauge?

I have never had an accurate fuel gauge on a boat. When the needle is still twitching, you've got gas. When it stops, you don't. That's pretty much the rule I follow.
Seriously though, I believe the pickup in the tank sends a certain voltage range to the gauge that will indicate the "fullness" level in the tank. This calibration can sometimes get a little off.

[GRskinautique]

I have a 2000 Ski Nautique and last summer the gas gauge kept reading 1/2 tank. I hadn't given it much thought until I ran out of gas in the middle of the lake. The problem was with the sender unit which is a float switch in the gas tank that sends the fuel level to the gas gauge. I am betting yours is the same problem. Very easy to replace, you can find new ones at just about any marine supply store. If I remember right, there are 4 screws that hold it into the top of the tank and two wires that attach to the top of it. You just have to follow the directions to cut it to the proper size for the depth of your tank. Mine is working pretty good now.

[mlange]

Replacing the sending unit is pretty simple. If you don't mind hopping over to the 'bu site I wrote up a how-to on it that is available at http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/...age=fuelsender

Mike

[EchoLodge]

I keep track of hours. You burn 5-7 gals an hour!