Fuel gauge not working - Sanger v210

Hey guys, i'm looking at importing a 96 Sanger V210 into Canada from California in the next couple weeks and the seller told me that fuel gauge doesn't work. He basically just keeps it topped up. How hard is it to fix and what would be involved in figuring out what the problem is with it.

thanks

It's most likely the fuel sender. Pull the back seat and you should be able to access the sender fairly easy.

Ground the sender terminal at the fuel sending unit. With key on if fuel gauge moves it is the sender. If not it is the wiring or gauge. Move to the front and repeat grounding procedure.

If the sender is bad, then the length of time needed for replacement is determined by the location and accessibility of the fuel tank. skidim.com should stock the parts needed.

Couple hour job, not overly difficult just time consuming. Had to replace the one in my 2000 V210 this summer. Sender float had a pinhole and was staying at the bottom. Had to pull the rear seat out, drivers seat base, one vent hose (under observers seat), and part of the front observer base in order to get the center floor piece out. Tank and sender were then easily accessible. Peter has you covered on figuring out what is wrong, I bought a universal from West Marine and confirmed the ohm range was consistent.

Correct me if I am wrong but should be a black deck plate in middle of floor. If so remove the plate by popping it out with a large flat blade screwdriver fuel sender will be right there remove 6 screws holding to tank inspect arm and float some floats are hollow so shake float and make sure no fuel is inside. More than likely the potentiometer is bad on the float you can check this with a cheap ohm meter the range should be 30 ohms at empty and 240 ohms at full.
You can test the gauge as peter said by grounding the signal wire the one in the middle of the sender with the key on and see if the needle on the gauge starts to sweep. (Be careful doing this not to let the needle go all the way to full before disconnecting the ground or damage to the gauge will result. The senders are easy to find and make sure that you match the length and bends of the old one so that the gauge will be accurate.

No deck plate access on my 2000 210, Jason may be lucky and have one on his '96.

I apolgise I stand corrected the 1996 v210 does not have a deckplate so you will have to remove the center part of floor

I can see my fuel sender on my 2000 V210 when I pull the back seat.

Walt that would make things easy. I thought that only things under back seat was fuel pickup, fill and vent line. But that would make job easy.

Maybe I'm wrong ? I saw a couple of wires going to it and figured it was the sender. The top of it looked just like the brand new sender I have too.

Mine was acting up too last year but decided to start working again before I changed it out.

Yep, my sender is under the back seat also.
1999 V-210

My sender on my 03 v210 is also under the back seat.

My '03 gauge shows full all the time. I immediately thought the sender too. I checked the resistance across the sender terminals and it showed 88 ohms at 2/3 full. I think the sender has a range of 230-30 ohms or close. The trouble shooting chart on Rochester's site says if the resistance is in the proper range, the wiring is grounded between the sender and gauge and the sender should be fine. I haven't traced the wires because they go into the engine compartment and are mixed with a bunch of other wires in a loom. Frustrating to say the least.

I'm sure none of this helps but I had to tell someone.

Mine stopped also...it was the sender from the tank