Fuel light

[Pomorza]

Hello all

Last night I'm cruising down the road at a nice 40mph stretch of road. Since no one is around (and it's rather late) I step on it a bit and let the motor breath. Long and behold I hit a pothole at about 50. Wasn't a deep one, just a nice "bump" in the road. Well sure enough the fuel light comes one, nice bright RED light at night was just lovely. Fuel gauge says half full but for insurance I stop and fill up. 8.45 gallons go in (roughly half a tank). Turn the car back on light is still on. So question of the day, how exactly does the light work, is it a grounding circuit like on old fords or is it a wire lead with voltage like a few others? I haven't been under the car as I didn't get home till late and haven't had time today (was doing brakes on a 620).

Any suggestions welcome

Jan

[SteveJ]

Check around the fuel pump sender. According to the wiring diagram, there are two wires. One is green (power from the dash lights circuit), and the other is yellow/blue. The Y/L wire goes back to the sender.

[Pomorza]

I have three wires, one is blue/yellow, one is blackish and the other is yellow. They all go to a connector which is covered in a nice heavy amount of dirt.

[SteveJ]

Sorry, I was tired when I typed that last night.

Green and yellow/blue are from the light.

As I said yesterday the Y/L wire goes back to the sender. That is the negative side of the circuit. I haven't ever seen a 280Z sender to know how it is wired. However, I would guess that your problem is either that or a loose piece of metal is grounding out the negative contact on the light.