Chrysler Repair: 97 t/c, fuel level sender, sound absorber


Question
when tank is full -(lighted-pump)
comes on and bell dings, each time car sways. Stops after fuel level goes below 3/4. Any way to disconnect or pull fuse to stop dinging?

Answer
Hi Bill,
While I don't have the specific wiring diagrams for '97, as I review those from earlier years of both cars and vans it appears that there is one fuel level sending unit in the gas tank with only one lead on it, so that the problem is likely in that unit. The warning dinger is most likely based on a false reading from the sending unit rather than in any other part of the gauge system, so to defeat the sound you will have to give up the gauge.
The sound is programmed to go off in the body computer and you can't kill the dinger without stopping all the dinging for every other warning system. Even then, it is likely hard wired in the computer, so the only way to do that is to put a sound absorber in front of the opening for the dinger sound, located on the front of the body computer.  
I suspect that there is a discontinuity in the sliding variable resistor that is attached to the float in the sending unit, so that when the float moves due to vehicle sway, it gives the body computer a momentary false low reading which sets off the dinger. I would believe that the only way to stop this is to buy and install a new fuel level sender in the fuel tank.
I wish the audible sound were separate from the rest of the level system and gauge but it looks to be too intertwined to separately disconnect it. You may be able to do this yourself, but it would be worth determining whether there is space to do it without mechanically dropping the tank from its mounting, which is a bit of a job (drain tank, disconnect filler pipe, support with floor jack, etc. etc.)
It you can do it without having to drop the tank, it should be pretty easy to do.
Roland