Our fuel gauge is not working

Our fuel guage will only move when you first turn on the engine then goes back to E and stays there. It is one gauge in the cluster of 4 does anyone know how we can test it to see if the gauge is bad or if the part in the tank is not working? and changing the tank part is that a big deal?

What brand of boat do you have? Most of the fuel sending units are pretty easy toi change. There should be a cover on the floor, pop the cover off with a screwdriver and the sending unit should be bolted right there. Easy to change. First check all of the wires to the gauge to see that it is not loose or shorted. Good Luck

It is behind the back seat on our 99 calabria it is easy to get to. Do we just unhook the hoses and pull the part off the top of the tank? is it a easy part to find or do I have to order something like that?

I don't know specifically about Calabria's, but like Robert said, take off whatever panel you need to get to the top of the tank. You shouldn't mess with any hoses. You are looking for probably a circular piece of metal or plastic with 5 or 6 screws holding it to the top of the tank. On top of the circle will be two electrical posts for the sending unit (float) inside the tank.

Disconnect the battery so there is no chance for spark. Then disconnect the wires from the top posts. Then unscrew all the screws around the circle and pull the sending unit up and out of the tank. Then you can test it with an ohm-meter, measuring resistance. Connect the the ohm-meter to the two posts on top and move the float to different positions as if the level in the tank was going up and down slowly. The ohm-meter should display different resistances depending on the float position, like somewhere around 1 - 400 Ohms. If you get mostly 0 Ohms or MegOhms (open circuit) your sending unit is bad and must be replaced. If you get good values then you can worry about the gauge, wire, or connections.

Granted this worked on a 1986 Mastercraft, but yours is hopefully similar. Good luck! When in doubt, call the guys at www.skidim.com and they will point you straight!

I have the same problem in my 2002 SAN. I found that my float had absorbed some gas and was sinking.

When I say take the hoses off It i sbecause the wires are attached the same place the fuel nozzle goes in. so we have to remove all of the screws out and take that unit off the top?

I'm not sure without seeing it, but those wires sound like grounding wires only to prevent static sparks during fueling. Look all over the top of the tank for another circle with screws or bolts, and 1 or 2 wires. No hoses.
But maybe they do it different than what I've seen. If you still can't find it, I would call a Calabria dealer and ask them where it is and what it looks like.

The easiest way to test a fuel sending unit/guage is to ground the sending unit wire at the tank and see if the guage goes to full. If not it is a wiring or guage problem. If it does go to full you will need to check the sending unit out. Remove the sending unit and reconnect with a ground wire and move the float manually and see if anything changes on the guage. Of course if the float is heavy then that would be the cause.