i am going to try to repair first but i don't see a lead coming out of the top to which i can solder the wire. as i understand it, there is a small thermistor within the canister, one leg goes up to the top of the canister, the other appears to be soldered to the center of the bottom - hence our ground wire just being soldered to the exterior of the canister. so if the positive lead snaps off it may be down in the canister - i don't think there's an easy way to pop the lid without damaging things - looks like its crimped in place. Top of mine looks to be just an empty small hole...
you got nothing to lose by trying.
the crimp should be no problem- go slow, pry up a tiny bit, move on around, lather, rinse, repeat until it's all the way up (use another flat screwdriver as the fulcrum so you don't break the disc). I imagine that there is a fiber/resin disc in the top that the top lead threads thru- for insulation and support. whether it's permanently attached (glued or crimped) or it's just floating, I guess you'll find out.
actually, an ohm meter will tell you right away if you got any conductor you can solder to without this "can opening" excercise.
and as far as soldering a ground to the new one- yeah, I understand what's going on.... I just wanted to make sure YOU did.
btw, some metals do not accept solder without a lot of hand-waving (etching, special fluxes, special solders etc) so be aware that you *might* have a little drama with the new one (besides the fact that it may not be in the resistance range you need).
it's worth it to try to fix the old one (and if you do: add support or strain relief to the wires 'cause they should never break). hell, it might be fairly easy to put a new thermistor in there or even make your own "can" too. if i did this (and i dig projects like this even though my success rate is probably less than 50%) I might consider potting the thermistor in epoxy ('cept the device itself), with drain holes for gasoline to egress/ingress, for additional support. and a slotted tab so I could adjust the "low fuel" level. and another idea is to... ....uh, shit- sorry. I get carried away sometimes.
if you get adventurous, drrags has a circuit designed using quad 741 op-amps (although I would've used a comparator here, I think) that is pretty adaptable to just about any sensor.
good luck. let us know what you find out.
