On my buddies 2007 SP500 his gas gauge always reads inaccurate solid/empty blocks with a full tank of gas. Its spotty according to him. He called the dealer and the service guy said sometimes the indicator element in the tank itself sometimes get stuck/gummed due to bad gas etc. He recommended him to stick a clean long wand/stick or something and stir around to unstick it.

Does that sound right? What else could be the problem so he might try other troubleshooting?

Thanks my friends!

R'

 

You can either shine a light in the tank and see if you can bend the wire float arm over a little or just pull it out of the tank,raise the arm up and see if it registers on the gauge first,then bend it slightly to where it won't hit the tank side. OPT

 

okay good info. thanks OPT!

R'

 

i would take it out of the tank that way he can check it over and move it around to see if the gauge is actually working or just needs to be bent over as mentioned.

 

It seems to be a problem indeed. My 07 reads half full when full. Its starts reading properly after the tank drops under half. My buddies 08 sp800 is the same way. Using a mirror I determined that the float rubs on the wall of the tank and doesn't raise completely throwing off the fuel level shown on the indicator. I'll eventually pull the sending unit and bend the float arm a little to make clearance but I'm not going to pull the body just for that. I can live with it as long as I know when it's getting close to empty.

 

Actually whether it is either the arm style fuel level sender on carb models or efi fuel pump assemblies, neither measures the fuel level accurately! This the first thing I noticed when gauges first came out. Just look at where they mount the senders and pumps! The tank shape drops and the fuel level sender is mounted in the lowest part of the tank.Even working properly when it shows full on the gauge there is still room for a lot more fuel! I never thought they calibrated the senders or pumps right to begin with OR they deliberately wanted you not to fill close to the neck of the tank!! The old gas cap gauges were a lot more accurate on fuel level! OPT

 

I have an 08 800 and was having the same issue... just alot of inaccurate readings all over the board.
I tried to adjust it in the tank and ended up with more problems than when I started... Didn't read at all or stuck on full/empty.
I took the tank apart repeatedly and adjusted the arm to where I thought it should be and it still was mis-reading.

Solution: I picked up a sending unit from a crashed ranger and replaced the float... Works like a dream now. Very accurate and have run it about 500 miles.

Well worth the effort and piece of mind.

Jon

 

Thanks.

The guage is being goofy on my dad's 08 800 also.

 

My gas gauge on my 07 Sportsman 800 efi worked great until my son's buddy rolled the quad. It did a double 360 down a hill. After that the gauge would read less than what was in there. I took the sending unit out (very tight fit) and attempted to figure out if I just needed to bend the arm back per some previous posts. The first issue I saw was the main pick up had a major bend in it. I did not know if that came like that or if it was damaged. I tried to bend the small arm where the float attached. I figured the float needed to be higher to read more gas on the gauge. After reinstalling which was not easy to get the unit back through the hole I had the same results. It worked but did not read the correct amount of gas. So back to the dealer it went for a new gas tank assembly. They do not sell just the sending unit. As part of the rollover insurance job, the stealer charged my insurance 770 dollars to replace the tank. It seems to read correct now but I have yet to run a tank full through yet.
Total repair bill for a rollover was 1700.00 and the pod was not even touched.

 

that was a very expensive gas gauge fix for sure. sounds like the dealer made out real good.