Marc Newman wrote: "I filled my tank this morning, and right as I was parking at work the fuel light came on. Turned it off and on and the light went out. Tonight, the fuel level showed full but the light was blinking on and off, mostly on. Any ideas?"
Don Home was kind enough to provide the following write-up:
A quick test of the low fuel light circuit is to short circuit the sensor connector (the Brown with Blue striped wire lug next to the green wire ground lug on top of the fuel pump assembly located under the seat) to ground with a screwdriver or knife blade with the ignition key on. If your fuel light comes on, the bulb and circuit wiring are OK. Just be sure you short the BROWN with BLUE striped wire and NOT the brown with red striped wire which is the 12vdc power to the pump!
Since your light is staying on, the easiest way to check would be to disconnect the Brown with Blue striped connector at the fuel pump when the light is staying on with a full tank. If the light goes out, then the problem is a short in the sensor or wire leading to the sensor on the fuel pump assembly. If the light stays on, then you may have a short in the Brown with Blue striped wire back towards the indicator light, or a problem in the "LAMP CHECK UNIT" which grounds the Brown with Blue striped wire for a few seconds when you first turn on the ignition switch. Disconnecting the "LAMP CHECK UNIT" from the circuit will further pinpoint the problem to the wiring or the "LAMP CHECK UNIT". I'm not sure where the "LAMP CHECK UNIT" is located, but I can look it up in the service manual if you need to know.
An ohmmeter check of the sensor should read greater than 1,350 ohms with the fuel in the tank above the sensor and 0 ohms when the fuel is below the sensor (<1.4 gal). My defective sensor read over 6,000 ohms with fuel over the sensor and without fuel and would not light the low fuel bulb! The sensor is part of the pump assembly and costs around $300 to replace. Luckily, mine was still under warranty when it went bad. The sensor itself is attached to the fuel pump pickup tube with screws and changes resistance with being wet or dry. All of these test pertain to my 1999 ABS and should be valid for your 2000 model.
Don
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Last updated on January 27, 2014 © 2003-2014 M. E. Martin, All rights reserved