Drakeule Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 All: I had a leak and dropped the tank to tighten the hose. I think I stopped the leak there, but it still is leaving a trail of raw gas when I drive. When I put it on the lift, the hose appears dry, but the seam has gas on it. The guy I bought it from probably bought one of those "1960 Buick" gas tanks on Ebay; I say this because he told me he had to bend the filler neck to make it fit (like the guy says on his site.) I think when they monkeyed with it, they opened up the seam somewhere. Hence the leak... So, does anybody know of a source for an original tank, or does somebody have an old one that I can buy and have re done? Thanks in advance, Charlie Drake, Potomac, Md. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Maybe all you need is an original neck for your current tank. If so, that'll be easier than finding a usable original tank... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smartin Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 A radiator shop can fix this if there is one close by. They will leak test it, too. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakeule Posted February 13 Author Share Posted February 13 Just wanted to put a period on this sentence. I drained the gas tank (again) and removed it. Not suprisingly, I found that several of the sender screws were loose, one installed cockeyed. Obviously, my leak source. So, I decided to put it back correctly,and added Permatex 2 as an added sealing measure. When I went to install the screws, they wouldn't all go in correctly. I finally figured out that the holes in the &^%$^ Chinese fuel sender didn't quite line up with the tapped tank holes. Imagine that? Of course, after drilling out the sender holes to get a better alignment, they tightened perfectly. BTW, that $75 sender had another sweet surprise in store for me: the float they use doesn't "float" like it should; it sinks slightly and gives you an approximately half full reading with a full tank(20 gal.) Just thought you all would like to know.... CD 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Century Eight Posted February 19 Share Posted February 19 On 2/13/2024 at 6:17 PM, Drakeule said: Just wanted to put a period on this sentence. I drained the gas tank (again) and removed it. Not suprisingly, I found that several of the sender screws were loose, one installed cockeyed. Obviously, my leak source. So, I decided to put it back correctly,and added Permatex 2 as an added sealing measure. When I went to install the screws, they wouldn't all go in correctly. I finally figured out that the holes in the &^%$^ Chinese fuel sender didn't quite line up with the tapped tank holes. Imagine that? Of course, after drilling out the sender holes to get a better alignment, they tightened perfectly. BTW, that $75 sender had another sweet surprise in store for me: the float they use doesn't "float" like it should; it sinks slightly and gives you an approximately half full reading with a full tank(20 gal.) Just thought you all would like to know.... CD I had the same experience with the float on two different cars. The unit was ok but we got some other floats for a few bucks to change out and the sending unit worked fine. The “cost”” was doing push-ups with removing and re-installing the tank a few times until it was right. Ah, those off-shore parts we sometimes have to get! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopsBuick Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 On 2/13/2024 at 6:17 PM, Drakeule said: Just wanted to put a period on this sentence. I drained the gas tank (again) and removed it. Not suprisingly, I found that several of the sender screws were loose, one installed cockeyed. Obviously, my leak source. So, I decided to put it back correctly,and added Permatex 2 as an added sealing measure. When I went to install the screws, they wouldn't all go in correctly. I finally figured out that the holes in the &^%$^ Chinese fuel sender didn't quite line up with the tapped tank holes. Imagine that? Of course, after drilling out the sender holes to get a better alignment, they tightened perfectly. BTW, that $75 sender had another sweet surprise in store for me: the float they use doesn't "float" like it should; it sinks slightly and gives you an approximately half full reading with a full tank(20 gal.) Just thought you all would like to know.... CD Same here. I bought the same unit and overfilling the tank was such a joy until I found out the gauge read low. I plan to repair my original unit and put it back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 9 hours ago, PopsBuick said: the holes in the &^%$^ Chinese fuel sender didn't quite line up with the tapped tank holes. Imagine that? I am imagining. The Chinese unit of measurement is based on the diameter of the Earth. That Buick sender was measured based on the length of a long dead king';s foot. The level of accuracy may have been foreign to them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakeule Posted April 24 Author Share Posted April 24 Funny; they are accurate enough to have secret police stations in NYC. However, most all Buicks are here in the USA.So there's that..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakeule Posted April 24 Author Share Posted April 24 BTW; it appears that there is a decent (i.e., has a hollow float) sender available for '61-64 Buicks on Ebay. Anybody know if this would fit a '60 gas tank? Asking for an adversary (ha ha!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 11 hours ago, Drakeule said: BTW; it appears that there is a decent (i.e., has a hollow float) sender available for '61-64 Buicks on Ebay. Anybody know if this would fit a '60 gas tank? I can't answer your question, however, if it were my car I'd be willing to buy it with the intention of using the components to rebuild the '60 core. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 On 4/22/2024 at 11:25 PM, PopsBuick said: Same here. I bought the same unit and overfilling the tank was such a joy until I found out the gauge read low. I plan to repair my original unit and put it back in. Very often one adjusts the float on the new unit to adapt to your tank. Adjusting the float may mean just bending the arm it is on to meet your "drop" range. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakeule Posted May 8 Author Share Posted May 8 All: I took JohnD's advice and adjusted (i.e., bent) the fuel sender arm; it now appears to read more accurately. However, it still seems to read a bit low (4 gal vs. 6 gal "actual".) I put that last in quotes, as I am not sure exactly how much gas is presently in the tank; when I emptied it, I found that there were still about 2 gals. left (I couldn't get the last bit out.) Now, I know I should have measured more accurately upon putting the gas back in....so, as to the tank currently available on Ebay (which the previous owner installed) what is -or should be-the capacity? If it is truly 20.0 gal., then I am indeed still reading low (by about 2 gal., I estimate.) I guess the best thing to do is redrain the tank to absolute empty (I'll need a better siphon than just a gravity flow version.) This should let me know the exact amount. If, (upon refilling to an exact amount) it is still not accurate, I've hit upon the idea that I can add just a small resistor (maybe 4-6 ohms) in series. this may adjust to a more accurate reading. I've already tried this and it indeed affects the gauge, moving it to a fuller reading. Of course, this would be assuming that the gauge is reading in a linear manner.... Any input appreciated. CD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinnieWildcat Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 A couple of years ago we replaced the sending unit on our ‘65 Wildcat. I bench tested the ohm reading on the float arm before installation. It is a 90 ohm unit. At one extreme it read 90 ohms, the other extreme 0 ohm and 45 ohms at mid range. Just what I wanted to see! When I installed the unit and carefully measured the fuel I added to the tank, I found it consistently read about 1/8 lower than it should based on the amount of fuel I added to the tank (it has a 25 gallon tank). So 12.5 gallons (actually 1/2 full) read about 3/8 full. If the gauge read 3/4 full it actually had 7/8 of a tank - about 22 gallons. My factory service manual indicated that the gauge/sender was intentionally engineered to show less fuel than is actually in the tank - sort of a “fudge” factor to help procrastinating drivers from running out of gas? In my case the 1/8 of a tank variance is about 3 gallons. Since I know the discrepancy I’m fine living with it and decided not to attempt recalibrating it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drakeule Posted May 8 Author Share Posted May 8 WW: What an interesting concept; pre saged the idiot "low fuel" light Gotta' love those old Buick engineers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 I think it was common to have a 2 ~ 3 gallon 'reserve' remain when the gauge reads 'empty'. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD1956 Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 Chances are one would never let it run that low anyway. Push it off the roadway by yourself one time and it will never get much below a half tank again..at least that was my experience. 😄 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 I had a '70 Chrysler Newport winter-rat with a bad fuel sender. I ran out of gas one night in the middle of a snow storm. I installed a new sender the following week! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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