Controlling stepper motor in automotive application

Hello, I'm new here though i've been intrigued by arduino projects for some time. I'm wondering about the feasability of a project to restore proper operation to a fuel gauge in my (and thousands of other chevy brand) trucks. There was an issue with the servo motor in the 88-99 chevy full size pickups that causes erratic movement in the fuel gauge either due to AC voltage leaking out of the alternator (as i've been told) or on the new models like my own the servo is controlled by PWM and the dampening oil in the gauge just doesn't do the job anymore.

What i'd like to do is us a bipolar stepper motor already used in GM products, i'm not sure how to identify it, and have it's position be controlled by the resistance value fed to the old gauge. To make it's movement appear smoother i'd like it to only change position once every 10 to 15 seconds. Can anyone tell me if this project is possible, cost effective (50-75$), and what else I may need to get started?

If the fuel gauge has a needle indicator it would be very much easier to control with a small and cheap hobby servo.

The bigger challenge (whether using a stepper or a servo) will be be gathering and interpreting the data from the fuel tank sender.

...R

Chaingun427:
a project to restore proper operation to a fuel gauge in my (and thousands of other chevy brand) trucks

It's not clear what the actual problem is that you're trying to solve, and from the diverse list of possible causes you gave I suspect you don't know either. (So far you haven't even mentioned what the symptoms are.) I suggest that before you start trying to hack the gauge about to use a different drive mechanism it would be worth finding out how the existing gauge works and what is causing the incorrect behaviour. It may be something that can be corrected electronically or mechanically without replacing the whole the gauge drive mechanism.