Harley Davidson Fuel Gauge Removal and Replacement

Hi, I'm Bob LaRosa, welcome to Fix My Hog. Today let's take a look at the fuel gauge. The integrated fuel gauge on models equipped with a fuel gauge on the fuel tank. I've seen many different aftermarket-style fuel gauges installed in these fuel tanks. There's a number of reasons why you would be removing this fuel gauge as an assembly.

One would be if it wasn't functioning correctly. Chances are, if the gauge isn't functioning at all you have an underlying issue. If the gauge isn't reading the correct amount that's in the fuel tank, chances are 50/50 maybe the fuel gauge as an assembly. It may be the float assembly in the tank. Again, your service manual is critical to diagnose malfunctioning components, figure out why they're malfunctioning, and repair them correctly.

Whether you're removing the fuel gauge from the tank to replace it with a newer style LED aftermarket, you're removing it because it's not functioning correctly, or you're removing it to repair and refinish the fuel tank. Either of those scenarios, the gauge has to be removed and reinstalled correctly. And when I say correctly, the wire that comes out of the base of the tank that plugs directly into the main harness via this connector never should just be cut and use butt connectors or scotch locks to join them back together. For one reason, you allow the environment to enter in on the wiring connection through either end of the butt connector or scotch lock. Secondly, it leaves a large unsightly area.

It really reminds me of the snake that ate the rat. It leaves a big bulge in the harness. Even though the harness winds up tucked under the tank and locked into the main harness, it's not visible. I myself know it's there. A lot of these fuel gauges, I see them twisted.

They twist them in place very much like you would twist a fuel cap. This style tank, you only fill through the fuel cap. You never remove the fuel gauge, but I still see quite a few of them twisted around to the point where the wires are just twisted. And sometimes they break the wire internally. The fuel gauge itself removes from the fuel tank fairly easy.

You're able to lift it right up and out of the fuel gauge allocation in the tank. You can see it. There is no way to unhook the wires from the gauge. You need to remove the end of the connector. And again, I've seen people cut them inside.

Solder, shrink wrap. You can certainly do it correctly, but it's much easier if you use your service manual, use some common sense, get a good look at the way the plug operates and remove each and every wire and pin. Remove the gauge, reinstall it. And then reinstall the connector itself with the pins. This style connector is a four-pin connector.

Obviously there's only three wires going into it. So you want to, again, take a good clear photo. Or I myself just like to draw a handwritten diagram. I'll locate a landmark, so to say, which is this tab in the connector. Let's call that top or bottom, left or right, up or down, however you want to label it.

And then from there I'll note my location. It's gonna be black, an empty pin connector location, yellow and orange. In order to remove these pin connectors from the plug itself you need to carefully bend the tabs away. And again, they're intricate, but it's not anything you can't do. Bend the tabs away.

Allow that little trap door to swing away from the connector. Make sure you don't break the tabs. Now it allows the end of the pin connector to exit the plug or connector that interfaces from the fuel gauge into the main harness. If you look inside, you can clearly see that there's a small plastic tab that engages into the pin connector. All you need to do is use a very small, I mean, this is just a standard electrical pin removal tool.

There are explicit tools for these connectors. But again, if you don't have them use common sense and use something that works. All you want to do is engage it into where the pin connector exits the inside of the plug. And gently pull back on the tab. While you're doing that, you'll hear an audible click as that tab comes away from the pin.

Once you pull back on that tab, you can gently pull on the wire that goes into the connector and just pull the pin connector free from the plug. Again, it's a nice factory connector. It's factory crimped. If you're gonna reuse this particular gauge, let's say you're just removing the gauge because you're having the tank refinished. You're gonna reinstall this gauge, don't cut the wires, don't splice.

Take a minute, remove the pin connector. Don't damage the plug or the pin connector. That way there if everything's marked, you can pop them right back in, close the little trap door, plug it back in. Everything works the way it's designed, the way it was originally assembled. If you're installing an aftermarket style LED or other type of fuel gauge, if it's the correct model specific, you will reutilize the plug or the connector unless one comes with the new aftermarket fuel gauge.

But you definitely need the same style pin, because you're not gonna change the opposing female side that this male pin engages with on the factory harness. Having written down correct location and noting that it's a four-pin connector with only three wires, clearly marking the empty spot, I can now just remove the other two wires in the same fashion. And it doesn't take a lot of effort. The first couple, they may seem a little bit difficult to do but once you get a feel for how that little tab inside bends back, the wires come right out and away from the connector or the plug. And I'm gonna do that for all three wires.

I've got a good reusable plug. I didn't damage the internals or the locking tabs on trap door. I didn't damage any of the factory installed pins. The male end of the connector. All I want to do is just group them together.

I don't like to twist any type of wire, but I do want them to all be grouped together. I can carefully rock the stock fuel gauge away from its mounting location in the tank. And just carefully feed the wires removed from the plug or the connector up through the base of the fuel tank. Now this is another area, if they don't all want to fit through at the same time, carefully feed them one at a time, get them started. So they all want to chase each other up and out of the tank.

It shouldn't take any force. If you have to physically wrap the wire around your hand and pull on it and tug it, I'll pretty much guarantee you're gonna cause damage either to the wiring harness or to the connector itself. And again, in this instance on the Deluxe, I'm gonna be having this tank refinished. So I need to make sure everything is removed so my painter can get a good coat of color and clear coat around all the surfaces of the tank. Once the tank's refinished, it's as simple as reinstalling the harness through what's known as the down tube or the internal pipe on the tank.

I'll get them all started together, even if they're staggered, so they traveled through the tube easily. And again, it takes no effort. If you're forcing things, chances are something's gonna get damaged. You're doing it incorrectly. And I just want to carefully feed that wire through until all the pin connectors exit.

I'll pull the excess slack. At this point, the gauge can snap right back in securely. You don't want it to swing around and damage any of the finished surface. I've got my diagram, which is critical. You need to put these three wires back into this four-pin connector plug in the correct location.

Otherwise the gauge won't operate at all. You'll have one wire or two possibly that aren't allowing the current to do the job it's supposed to as it travels through the harness. I made my notations. I did get my landmark tab. And I know it's gonna be black.

And these pins will only go one way. There's a top and a bottom. This indented area on the pin, Once it's engaged in the connector or the plug that's what that locking tab I released locks against. So it keeps the pin from backing out when it's plugged into the main harness. I'll reengage my black wire.

And again, like most connectors, most plugs, as you put it in there'll be a good firm click. A nice audible sound. I've got my black. I know I have an empty space next to the black. Then my yellow.

Again in the proper direction, in the proper opening in the back of the connector. Carefully feed it into the connector. Allow it to just enter into the connector and lock into the locking tab. You'll feel that nice firm engagement. You'll hear the audible click.

And I'll do the same thing with the orange wire. It's orientated correctly to engage into the locking tab Slide it into position. And before I close that trap door on the connector body itself, I just want to gently pull back on each wire make sure it's locked into the connector. At this point, if they're not locked in, they'll pull right back out of the connector. Push them all forward, make sure they're fully seated.

And just close the little trap door. All that piece really does is offer a little bit of weather resistance. Again, dielectric grease, close that door. I just double check my handwritten diagram or photo. Make sure everything is the way it should be.

And I've removed and reinstalled the fuel gauge on the Softail Deluxe fuel tank with a fuel gauge that runs through the tank through the dome tube, without cutting any of the factory harness or disturbing any of the factory crimped pins.