I am a little confused at the reasoning behind return to the west coast vs the closer airport at HNL.

If the issue was one of faulty fuel indicators, then you have to assume that there was concern re the ability to accurately to determine the quantum of fuel remaining in the tanks - eg their absence or faults would place the a/c at risk if there was some abnormal fuel burning situation or a leak ( or anything else I can think up) ie the extra use / loss would not be detected.

So if the pilots were faced with unreliable fuel indications, and my interpretation above is correct, then I would have thought that landing at the nearest appropriate port would be the thing to do not fly on to somewhere that was operationally more appropriate.

Maybe I am missing something.