So, my gas gauge on my 1995 XJ don't work. I have a work-around, in that I drive about 200 miles on a fill-up (which puts the tank at about half) then fill up again, but I'm wanting to give the Jeep to my 15 year old on her birthday -- and I don't trust her to remember the 200-mile rule hehe -- so I'd REALLY like my gas gauge to work. Not too much to ask, right?

Yeah, right.

I took it into the shop last year (electrical and instrumentation is something that I don't really know anything about) and they told me that the fuel sending unit was bad. So I went scouring the interwebz looking for a sending unit, and as anybody who's tried looking can attest, there are none. I mean, none. Zip. Zero. So I went to the local salvage yard, found a 95 XJ, and pulled that sending unit and pump. Didn't work. Maybe I got a bad one, I dunno, but it seems there's an extreme rarity of that year model XJ in the local salvage yards, so I'm limited in my options to try again.

I've looked through these forums and found no real answers as far as finding replacement sending units. A few threads that DID have links on them, but the links have expired or the sites are now out of stock.

So I need options. My questions are these...

1) If I can't buy just the sending unit, is there a fuel pump module/assembly where you buy the pump and the sending unit comes with it?
2) If I were to replace the tank itself with another year model tank, or a generic tank kit, would that year model sending unit or pump module work?
3) Is there another option that I haven't considered?

I don't care about keeping everything original. I just want my gas gauge to work. Thanks in advance.

 

You can pick up a new fuel pump with sending unit on rock auto, and I think you can even get the entire tank, pump, and sending unit as a kit from spectra, on rockauto. If the gas tank is rusty, maybe not a bad idea to replace it at the time. Don't be surprised if the new sending unit is inaccurate right out of the box. It may read that there is less gas in the tank than there actually is, which is not great, but also better than the alternative.

If you replace the pump and sending unit, it can be done without dropping the tank. You just have to make sure that the unit is properly seated in the hole in the BOTTOM inside of the tank. That little black rubber bumper fits into a hole in the bottom that makes sure the pump is oriented properly.

 

I wonder where the gauge reads with the key on or the engine running? If at the bottom left I'd test it myself even though he had a shop do it.
Disconnect the wire to the sending unit, at the tank, and ground it to the car frame. Turn the key to on and see if the fuel gauge goes to Full. If it does the gauge and wire are good and the problem is in the sending unit.

Wondering also if the late '95s have the same set up as my '96 with the regulator on the pump assembly.

 

I just checked out Rock Auto, and all I'm finding is the pump, not the sending unit or a pump/sending unit combo.

Also, thanks for the reminder on the proper placement of the assembly when I finally do get it. I probably would've forgotten

I haven't tried that yet. I'll do so on my next off day. Thanks

 

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Yeah, I know this is an old posting, but given that Almighty Google had no answers and I had to suss them out on my own, I figured I'd post my findings so others wouldn't be forced to do the same.

SO... it turns out that while there are no fuel sending units for the 1994-1996 XJ, the one for the 1993 (such as found here... ) WILL work, but it's a tad long. The bottom of the sending unit -- the pump housing and the return line -- touch the bottom wall and so make a LOUD hum as it operates. I have right at a year now of experiencing that particular joy Turns out, there are adjustments that can be made to the unit to eliminate most, if not all, of that hum.

Adjustment 1 -- cut off the end of the return line. Now, of course, you don't want to cut it ALL off, but if you pull off the plastic boot, you can cut the line a good bit below the hole and achieve the desired effect.

Adjustment 2 -- bend the outlet line slightly down. As the sending unit is already at a slight incline, this will push the bottom of the unit forward enough to raise the end of the unit off the bottom of the tank. It don't take much, so be careful not to crimp the line.

I drove the Jeep to work this morning and discovered no issues. I've yet to run the tank to empty, so I don't know how this throws off the accuracy of my gauge, but the gauge DOES still work, which is better than it was in 2019 when I started this thread LOL Hope this helps someone.

 

How did that worked out for ya?? Is it still working ok or have you had any issues?? I am in the process of buying the whole pump assembly for my 95 xj and came across several that gave issues with the sending unit.

 

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I got a new sending unit for my 95 xj and the plugs seem to be from different years. The plug on fuel filter side is 3 prong and the sending unit has a cluster block with it looks like 6 holes in it.. anyone have any luck cutting and splicing into fit the 3 plug? I live on a remote island in alaska and its hard to get the right parts, or parts at all. Help!!

 

Did you have to cap off the return line or anything? I'm thinking this is gonna be my only go to fix as I'm in the same boat you were.

 

Note:

I will do a write up on this topic soon, but a few things I have found doing my '96

You can (and should) just replace the fuel pump itself, it just bolts and plugs right into the assembly, (says pump fits 91-96 dyor), new Bosch $A60

If you have a failed fuel level sender, it also unclips and unplugs from the assembly support structure

It should be very carefully examined and cleaned down with PF600 both on the copper tracks and the contact that glides across the tracks

This will clean the varnish and allow the circuit to conduct

re assemble the parts to the support skeleton, and all will be well

take a lot of photos prior to taking apart, as the wiring colors did not correspond with my correct year FSM, dont lose any parts either, you need them

 

Preface... I apologize for taking so long to respond to these comments. I check the email tied to this forum "maybe" every few months, usually when I have trouble with an Amazon order 😜

It's working fine. I did these adjustments and it greatly reduced the hum (though it's still present).

One thing I did notice is that the level is off. If I fill up as soon as the empty light comes on, I can maybe fit 13gal in, and this is a 20gal task. This is likely due to the float being put off position due to how the end of the assembly sits, but it's not a big enough problem for me to worry about.

Yeah, I noticed the discrepancy when i tried to replace it way way back, which is why I left the old assembly in for so long. I don't know enough about electronics to trust myself to something like that, so I'm no help there.

No, the only adjustments I made are the ones I've already detailed, though I likely will go back in at some point and tweak the angle of the bend, and maybe the float arm a bit.

Honestly, I totally would have gone that route, but my brother in law is the one who actually found the fix, so by the time I got the Jeep back, it was no longer an option 😜