[villagerfrog]

I have a 2016 Yamaha gas cart with a dash gauge that shows both fuel level and hours usage. Recently, my fuel gauge has stopped working, though the hour meter continues to work fine.

My experience with golf carts is limited, so did some troubleshooting on my own. I did determine that the gas gauge is a circuit with the fuel sending unit being that have a variable resistor and changes resistance based on fuel level, thus changing current flow. The current flow is what the gauge measures for displaying the fuel level.

1) Checked the fuel sender on top of gas tank. Resistance seems to be there. Was 67 ohms with partial tank and went down to 45 ohms when I filled it up, so I think this is ok. I could not detect any DC voltage on the two leads coming to the fuel sender unit. Would have thought I would have seen something.
2) Checked all the fuses I could find by the battery, a total of 4. They were all fine, used my volt meter, none were open.
3) Disconnected the battery for a bit in case something would reset and potentially work. No luck here.

I’m assuming that I have an open wire somewhere OR the gas gauge / hour meter has flaked out. Since there are thousands of Yamaha gas carts here, just wondered if someone else had this issue and if they were able to find a cause and how to repair.

Thanks for reading.

[Keefelane66]

Gas gauge prpblem

[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by villagerfrog

I have a 2016 Yamaha gas cart with a dash gauge that shows both fuel level and hours usage. Recently, my fuel gauge has stopped working, though the hour meter continues to work fine.

My experience with golf carts is limited, so did some troubleshooting on my own. I did determine that the gas gauge is a circuit with the fuel sending unit being that have a variable resistor and changes resistance based on fuel level, thus changing current flow. The current flow is what the gauge measures for displaying the fuel level.

1) Checked the fuel sender on top of gas tank. Resistance seems to be there. Was 67 ohms with partial tank and went down to 45 ohms when I filled it up, so I think this is ok. I could not detect any DC voltage on the two leads coming to the fuel sender unit. Would have thought I would have seen something.
2) Checked all the fuses I could find by the battery, a total of 4. They were all fine, used my volt meter, none were open.
3) Disconnected the battery for a bit in case something would reset and potentially work. No luck here.

I’m assuming that I have an open wire somewhere OR the gas gauge / hour meter has flaked out. Since there are thousands of Yamaha gas carts here, just wondered if someone else had this issue and if they were able to find a cause and how to repair.

Thanks for reading.

You did very well on testing the system. Take you OHMeter and check the fuel gauge, you should get a reading, if it reads as an open circuit, the gauge has failed. If this is a totally electronic unit, I would still suspect the fuel gauge. You are correct there should be battery voltage (or close to it) somewhere in the circuit.
The circuit could be battery to fuel gauge to fuel sender to ground, OR battery to fuel sender to fuel gauge to ground. I suspect the first on is more common.
I hope this helps, send me a PM if you would like to discuss further over the phone, or have me take a look at it.

[villagerfrog]

Thank you villagetinker for the clue needed. From the ignition switch, there was a wire going to the connector on the dash gauge. There was no voltage on that pin of the connector when ignition was turned on. There is an in-line fuse holder of which the 500ma 125v fuse was blown.

I have an adjustable power supply (from a prior life) and using it for voltage was able to get the gauge to work at 12 volts. It drew 80ma as the tank was full. So..... I need to get a new fuse and unfortunately a new in-line fuse holder. When I took the blown fuse out, the bottom of the fuse broke in the other half of the holder. It's stuck way down there. I'll replace it and hopefully the blown fuse was a fluke.... Time will tell.

Anyhow, I want to thank you for your insight.

[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by villagerfrog

Thank you villagetinker for the clue needed. From the ignition switch, there was a wire going to the connector on the dash gauge. There was no voltage on that pin of the connector when ignition was turned on. There is an in-line fuse holder of which the 500ma 125v fuse was blown.

I have an adjustable power supply (from a prior life) and using it for voltage was able to get the gauge to work at 12 volts. It drew 80ma as the tank was full. So..... I need to get a new fuse and unfortunately a new in-line fuse holder. When I took the blown fuse out, the bottom of the fuse broke in the other half of the holder. It's stuck way down there. I'll replace it and hopefully the blown fuse was a fluke.... Time will tell.

Anyhow, I want to thank you for your insight.

I have the parts in stock if you have problems, including splices, and i might be able to get the broken fuse out, let me know, by Private Message.