Gen 2 Fuel sender corrosion from ethanol

drew10101010

drew10101010

Greenie N00B Member
To combat corrosion of the gen 2 fuel level sender form ethanol I have found some alternatives to test.
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C8FPLGM/
This is for a Yaris but it looks very similar. I ordered it and will do some testing to see if it corrodes. Not exactly sure how to properly test it yet. Open to suggestions. Submerge one side in full e85 and leave other dry? Do an e50 mix? Dip both sides of the connecter half way?

There's also the OEM Yaris sender which looks beefier. Toyota 83320-35640 $50
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There's the Rockauto whole assembly from Delphi but it's quite pricy at ~$350
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@iamareios has been successful with a Mercury? part that is coated in solder for a few months now. Motorcraft PS435?

An alternative coating I've found is Por 15 $20
www.amazon.com/PPOR-15-Corrosion-Resistant-Alcohols-Additives/dp/B00B3HXCZ4
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Can't seem to find a lower cost alternative at the moment other than soldering. I was thinking of spray paint but that might not last. Also soldering changed the resistance for iamareios so the fuel reading is off so at half tank its empty. Maybe this por15 might not do that.
There are apparently other fuel senders that might work too. Dorman 911-014 might. I found a few that look similar in construction to the OEM sender.
 
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I did some googling and it appears soldering can raise the resistance some. It has higher resistance than copper. But it could be so little that it is negligible. Also this could mean the Toyota sender could be off too.
 
Alright got a nice juicy update :) Got the sender in and it's sitting in e85 now. I tested the metal parts with a magnet and it appears the contacts are not magnetic which means it could be stainless. The rod is magnetic though but only half strength. So it appears this unit might work out. I also took measurements of the resistance at full, middle and empty. I'm not sure what the resistance has to be to match oem specs. I'll have to look it up later.
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Here you can see the magnet pick up the rod. It's weakly magnetized though versus different metal I tried. So it could be a 409 stainless?20230627_001531.jpg
Non magnetic contacts
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This end part is magnetic.
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It's chillin in a 100% e85 bath with some of the contact sticking out. I'll keep checking on it. I wonder if it makes a difference if the unit has to be powered up? What if it only corrodes when it has power?
Side note: that corn smelled good as hell
 
Good idea. I have now put a cap on it although it's not covered all the way. Some of the e evaporated as the level was lower today. I noticed what appears to be a small rust spot on the negative contact. Not entirely sure yet. It's hard to see. 20230627_185354.jpg 20230627_185906.jpg
In the middle of the contact on the left.
 
Easter Bunny said:
@iamareios has a fuel Level issue from using the Ford sender not from the solder
Click to expand...

The current ford/merc. sensor on the basket hasn't failed yet. Primarily because the connectors were cut off, wires soldered directly to the board, and potted/encased completely. I did a lot of research on different platforms who experience the same issue with similar style level sensors. Honda guys do this same thing, but I found it failed on them shortly after. It's interesting that mine hasn't yet. I would love to perform the same process on another OEM sensor, but finish it off with potting of 3M 2216 epoxy. The resistance level differences are expected by design of specific sensors.
 
Well the little brown spot hasn't changed. I found the resistance values in the 2010 manual and it seems to match almost perfectly.
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20ohms at full and 400 empty.
I've never converted from 2k ohms before on the DMM. If I understand it right you just take away the decimal? Then its 15 and 410 ohm perfect.
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I might just throw it in and do a long term test with it installed :D Unless the measurements are off:weary:
 
It's only been a couple of days I would give it a few weeks before you take the time to install it
 
How's that level sensor holding up? I just had another OEM sensor fail, in less than a week. Using the solder trick and applying epoxy. What sensor is that again?
 
iamareios said:
How's that level sensor holding up? I just had another OEM sensor fail, in less than a week. Using the solder trick and applying epoxy. What sensor is that again?
Click to expand...
It's holding up well. It's this www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C8FPLGM/ Seems to be an aftermarket Toyota Yaris 07-18 replacement. I don't think OEM is going to work. And that epoxy is pretty pricey.
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Ethanol seems to make a good fruit fly trap lol. The sender is fully submerged but I have to keep topping it off as it evaporates. I can smell the ethanol near it. Maybe I should cut a slit in the cover so it can close better.
 
I went ahead and ordered that yaris sensor, since its so damn cheap. It would be awesome if the sensor required no modification, other than depinning and swapping connectors. Crossing my fingers with your test results.
 
Good luck! You could also cut off the connecter from the old sensor and solder it on to the yaris. Cut, strip, solder, heat shrink. I'm excited to see how it goes :D I hope it fits right in and the float arm is the correct spec.
 
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