fuel guage problem on 97 chevy

right now the problem is that the needle is 180 degrees off... empty its facing the 5 oclock position and full it faces the 8 oclock position... so maybe somebody has messed with the needle in the past?

You can try filling the truck up and the pull the needle and put it back on at the full mark, the key needs to be on when you do it. It may be worth a try, someone may have pulled the needles off in the past to put an overlay dash kit in it or god knows what other reason. They are a pain to get back in the same exact spot after you do pull them.

Yeah when I calibrated all the needles on my 454SS cluster (someone pulled them for a gauge face overlay and reinstalled wrong) that was my "scientific method" for setting the gas gauge; I filled the truck up and set the needle on F. Worked great; ran it down to the gauge showing 1/2 a few times and filled the truck up again, took near 12 gallons each time, pretty accurate considering the 25 gallon tank in my extended cab shortbed.

The other needles I set using a more appropriate method. Temp gauge via readings from an IR thermometer, tachometer using an actual tach hooked up, speedometer via GPS with cruise held at several different speeds, etc...

Richard

thanks guys.. it does have an overlay on it and if the needle was wacked out then who knows where they put it... ill try that... does it just pull off??

Yes pulls right off, make sure when putting back on dont push on too far or it will stick if the overlay isnt perfectly flat