New fuel gauge needle falls to 4 o'clock position

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Charlie

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Recently purchased new fuel gauge from LMC. Worked perfect till this morning and needle was pointing to 4 o'clock position. This has only happened today. After starting, gauge moves back to the level I remember it being before turning off. Old gauge was working, just bouncing.

Has anyone had this happen with their gauges? Or, do I possibly have a defective gauge which I can contact them and possibly exchange.
 

bucket

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It's common with gauges in other vehicles.

Besides that, I don't know about the LMC gauges.
 

Charlie

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It's common with gauges in other vehicles.

Besides that, I don't know about the LMC gauges.


My old gauge (OEM) did not do this, just bounced. This one just started today after approximately 2 weeks since install. Did not do this before.
 

Mike7ftr

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Mine always seems to fall to the 7:00 position. You're lucky!
 

Charlie

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UPDATE

Removed new gauge, reinstalled old gauge and works just like it did before installing new one. It does not fall at all with key off. Stays in same position as with key on. It still does bounce but is working. I noticed when I removed new one and placed it in the box, needle slowly fell to 4 o"clock.

New gauge did not fall till after 2 weeks.

Going to contact seller about replacement or return and refund. Will see.
 

bucket

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So your old gauge needle just flops around during braking, cornering, etc? That may just be that resistor strip thing on the back of the gauge has failed. I think it was maybe @chengny that had posted about that recently.
 

Charlie

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So your old gauge needle just flops around during braking, cornering, etc? That may just be that resistor strip thing on the back of the gauge has failed. I think it was maybe @chengny that had posted about that recently.


This is what I am talking about damping.

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bucket

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I've never had one act all twitchy like that. My pickups with saddle tanks act just like that second one. The saddle tanks slosh a lot more in a way that moves the sender. My Burb and K5 fuel guages have never moved around much at all.
 

Charlie

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Contacted LMC explained situation. Got response 2 days later they will send out new gauge and I could dispose of defective unit. I will hold on to gauge cause tested with needle at or below half tank and it did not fall below e with key off. It is still usable and will probably wait till someone needs another one and explain about needle falling. Waiting for new gauge to arrive in a few days.
 

Charlie

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DANGIT!!!

Just realized I forgot to update. LMC sent me another new gauge and it works like the first one. Near full, needle falls to 4 O'clock position or lower. When near empty, falls to near 4 o"clock position or lower. This really bugged me. So, I drilled two small holes below the E and F, placed small paper clip so as to hold needle from falling very far. You can see them in pic. After this, I painted them flat black and are not very visible. Very satisfied with results.

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