I’m remounting my new fuel level sender to my 32 gal aluminum gas tank after my father hapazardly installed it when I was not around.
Problem is the holes in the new unit do not quite line up with the old ones.
The original holes are tapped for machine screws.
What I’m planning on doing now is to rotate the whole patern 36 degrees, redrill, and retap the holes. I briefly thought about reaming out the old holes and using sheet metal screws, but I thought better of it.
My main questions are: 1) will the gasket seal up the old holes just by covering them up or should I plug them, and with what? 2) I have some gasoline-duty thread sealant… should I use it or something else on the gasket or should I install it dry? Thanks,
the new and old unit should line up
DO NOT REDRILL YET
the hole pattern will only fit 1 way
keep turning the gasket until the holes line up
I know you think I am nuts, but seriously, they only make 1 hole pattern that I am aware of. never seen one that didnt line up
Yep, it will line up. The reason they do it like that is that some sending units will only work when they are installed in the correct position because of a float on a swinging arm. If you put those in crooked the arm could hit a part of the tank and not read correctly. The holes are un-evenly spaced so they will only line up one way.
