Malibu Fuel Gauges

[SLICKUKE]

The Fuel Gauge on my 99 Malibu Sportster keeps showing less gasoline than I
actually have. Yesterday it was showing less than a quarter tank(in the water).
I poured in one 5 gal. tank and half way through the second, it overflowed thru
the vent. Anything I can do before taking it back to the dealer to get fixed?
Jerry

[MrsPerkey]

The only true way to tell how much gas you have in a boat(inboard) is to
visually look at the gas tank level. The fuel gauge should give a close
estimate.

Bob Raibert

[SLICKUKE]

How do I do that?
Jerry

[Mark Kovalcson]

Pull the transom cover off so that you see the gas tank. Your boat
should have a plastic gas tank that should show where the fuel is.

If your fuel tank had a top mounted fuel fill you could stick something
in it like a dip stick. A have a friend who used a piece of rebar. He
could tell my the notches on the bar how full it was.

I replaced the fuel sending unit in my boat two years ago. I think it
cost about $30. It is pretty accurate at the full side but it reads a
bit low generally which is good enough.

Some sending units have floats that stick. This might be your problem.
Does your gauge move at all? Or just in a limited range ?

SLICKUKE wrote:
>
> How do I do that?
> Jerry

--

Mark Kovalcson
http://www.perfectpull.com
Waterski Training Equipment

[SLICKUKE]

The gauge moves, but it always seems to lowball the amount of fuel.
Jerry

[Mike Mass]

I removed the sender on our fuel tank an bent the float down some so it
would read full a little longer, but the best rule is to keep a little log
book and write down the hour meter each time you fill it up. Most boat burn
about 3.5 to 4.5 gals per hour so a 30 gal tank is good for about 7 to 8
hours. I can usually guess how much gas we need with-in 1-2 gal using this
method.

Mike

SLICKUKE <slic...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:19990723202419...@ng-fd1.aol.com...

[Mark Beggs]

On 24 Jul 1999 00:24:19 GMT, slic...@aol.com (SLICKUKE) wrote:

>The Fuel Gauge on my 99 Malibu Sportster keeps showing less gasoline than I
>actually have. Yesterday it was showing less than a quarter tank(in the water).
>I poured in one 5 gal. tank and half way through the second, it overflowed thru
>the vent. Anything I can do before taking it back to the dealer to get fixed?
>Jerry

Jerry,

Did you ever solve your problem? Just realized last week that my
gauge is doing the same thing. Ran the gauge down until it was
sitting on empty, twice. Filled up once at the marina and the other
time at the gas station. Both times I could only get 20 gallons in a
35 gallon tank.

Let me know what you found out.

...Mark

[Brian Zimmerman]

I have a 98 Response LX and it acts the same way, it shows a quarter of a
tank when I have about 30 gallons in the tank. I sure would like to know
why...

Brian

Mark Beggs wrote in message <37b93b0f...@news.gvi.net>...

[Steve Robertson]

My 98 Sunsetter VLX has had the same problem since I bought it. It would be nice to
have a reliable gauge.

[Sybil]

I'll bet someone will have to get the sending unit out
of your tank and adjust the float mechanism. Think
about the difference of calibrating it "full" or
"empty". Which would you prefer to be more accurate?

[Joel Madrigal]

I guess I shouldn't have kept this to myself. I e-mailed Malibu and they
responded quickly saying that some bad sending units went through
production, but they've corrected it, and if I took it to the dealership,
they would replace it. Mine's being replaced today. If you have any
questions, go to the Malibu website, www.malibuboats.com, and click on the
technical support link to send them some mail. They are GREAT about
responding.

Joel

Mark Beggs wrote in message <37b93b0f...@news.gvi.net>...

[Peter Richards]

I have a reliable fuel gauge on my Malibu: The opaque gas tank!

We stopped paying attention to the dash gauge a long time ago. To be
fair to Malibu, I've noticed this same situation with many other makes
of boats.

You want to know how much fuel is left? Lift the rear seat back up, and
see where the gas is sloshing around in the tank.

[Brian Zimmerman]

Thanks, you are right and I have been doing that since I got the boat. I
used a magic marker to mark on the fuel tank in 5 gallon increments. It
would just be nice to have a working fuel guage when you have a bunch a
people in the boat. That way nobody has to move so you can check the fuel
level on the gas tank. It is a very minor inconvenience, but I paid good
money for a working fuel guage :-)

Peter Richards wrote in message <37BAC486...@snet.net>...