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[Abiton]

Been having trouble for the last year or so with the gauge dropping out sometimes - and not others - when less than about 25L in tank.

Blamed dash initially (mainly beacuse when towbar was fitted by a previous owner they put a reinforcing bar right across the access hatch for the pump etc. ).  Pee'd about with improving connections in the dash a couple of times to no avail.

Checked connections when I finally did manage to get the cover partly off, no sign of problems.  (But fairly bent cover  )

Eventually, today, I managed to unbolt the towbar thingy and get right in amongst it.  Fuel gauge sender bit came out without too much of a fight.  There's a tiddly little leaf spring (think that's the term?) that holds a little connection piece with two contacts up against the rheostat 'windings'.  Accessible with care.  Quick tweak to improve it's 'push' and things seem good again.  

Hope this is of use to someone, someday.  
Didn't think to take any pics, sorry.  

[Abiton]

 
Seems like I was wrong 
Bloody thing's started playing up again.

Before I delve into the tank again, I'd like a spare sender 'on hand', and I'm not liking Vx's price for a new item one little bit.

Any breakers got a 90512051 (fuel gauge sender)?
I'm led to believe that saloons with a chassis number equal to or later than S1057529 will have this part fitted. 

Thanks for looking.

[Abiton]

Well that "99% certain" bit of the title is embarrassing in hindsight, but I did get this sorted in the end.

After the minor battle of extracting the gauge sender mechanism for a second time, I spotted the real problem, with the help of a multimeter measuring the resistance between the connector terminals while I moved the arm about.

As I posted earlier in the thread, there is a little leaf-spring that pushes a contact down onto the resistance track, but that can only do so much.

The real problem turned out to be that the metal arm which has the float at its far end needs to have a nice 90-degree angle at its other end, where it is mounted to the plastic parts at the electrical end of things.

Over the years this 90-degree bend had opened out oh-so-slightly, such that the contact and its leafspring were no longer able to make reliable contact with the resistance track.  Dis-assembly of the metal arm from the plastic bits and a quick 'tweak' to close up the angle a touch sorted it.

Been fine for around 6 months since. 
Another extortionate Vx replacement price avoided. 

[RichardH]

Good work.  It's always nice to get those niggly problems sorted as they can wreck your head.

[PhilRich]

Well done Abiton!, these bits of knowledge all add up to big money savers for someone in the long run