I have an early 245...a 1976, actually...and am having fuel gauge/sender problems.

What's Happening:

The gauge in the instrument cluster reads pretty much accurately EXCEPT it behaves as if the mid-point (half-tank) on the gauge is in fact the empty point. I've confirmed this by tracking mileage (i.e., I know how many miles I've gone and how much gas I put in to get the tank fully full. And it is really full, I've confirmed that.). Furthermore, the needle on the gauge does fall all the way to the bottom of the scale (empty mark) when one turns off the ignition. So the needle does move through its full range and the gauge behaves as it should during power-on. It's just that it's only moving through the first half (full to mid) of its range at 50% scale (it "thinks" that the mid-point is the empty point).

What I've Done:

The sending unit in the tank has been rebuilt and replaced. As far as I can tell, the float is not binding at all in the tank...and anyway, there is some kind of signal coming from the tank to the gauge, it's just that it's weirdly accurately inaccurate. The unit is properly grounded to the car body.

What I've Not Yet Done (instead deciding to come here to ask before doing more):

I haven't taken apart the instrument cluster to mess with the fuel gauge itself. I've also not used my voltmeter to read the resistance coming from the sender to the gauge. I don't really think that I'm going to find anything by taking apart/out the gauge from the cluster. I'm not entirely sure how to read the resistance coming from the sender. I've seen the text in the Green Book, but it's rather confusing (to me at least).

What Would You Suggest?

- Could this be a problem with grounding? I have had sooooo many problems with grounding (as well as weird wiring stuff) in this car since I've gotten it. I'm replacing bad grounds as I find them, but maybe this is another issue related to that? I will say that the gauge has behaved like this ever since I've had the car (almost a year). Rebuilding the sending unit actually did nothing to change this behavior (although I did get a new in-tank pump out of it, so that was worthwhile p m if nothing else).

- Could this have something to do with the little mechanical voltage regulator on the back of my instrument cluster? I've heard that it's possible to take these things apart and clean/free them up. The part itself seems nla (although I'm sure someone here has one and will tell me that ;-) ). But again, before I go in there taking apart the cluster, I want to know if that is in any way possibly part of the problem.

- Has anyone seen/experienced this issue?

OK, so there you go...first time post from a (relatively) long time lurker. Someone the other day was complaining about lack of posts in the RWD 200 forum, so maybe this helps. I could certainly use the help with this fuel gauge thing as it's starting to drive me nuts that I haven't figured it out.

Thanks!