gas gauge

[jsomedaysoon]

ok so i'm tired of running out of gas. i dont drive my truck much but when i do it runs out of gas almost every time i take it out. the gauge doesent work and niether does the odometer so i cant really keep track of it that way. my hanes manual says nothing at all about how to fix a gas guage. is there a process of elimination or is there some clues i should look for or something cheap i should try to replace first?

 

[jstevenson509]

Gas gauges seem to be a hot topic for repairs.. Try searching for Sending Unit (Gas Gauge won't work because Gas is 3 letters and you need four for broncozone) but there are a lot of similar threads dealing with how&when to replace the sending unit and/or fuel tank.

Goodluck, wish I knew enough to give you some real advice though. /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 

[Tennessee Jed]

I have worked on a few and never found it to be anything other than the sending unit in the fuel tank which requires dropping the tank or cutting an access hole in your rear deck. Sorry I wish I had better news. It ain't hard after you get to the dang thing.

 

[Bebop Man]

ok so i'm tired of running out of gas. i dont drive my truck much but when i do it runs out of gas almost every time i take it out. the gauge doesent work and niether does the odometer so i cant really keep track of it that way. my hanes manual says nothing at all about how to fix a gas guage. is there a process of elimination or is there some clues i should look for or something cheap i should try to replace first?

On my '86 I had to drop the tank. 8 bolts, but you have to undo the fuel fill hose and disconnect the fuel supply and vent lines as well, and they dont have enough slack to lower the tank all the way to the ground.

What I did was set a lift jack with a 2x8 piece of wood about 2' long and set that under the gas tank. Release all the bolts and let the jack take the weight of the tank. Lower it a couple inches, and then you can get a hand around to remove the fuel lines and the sending plug. Wth all the lines loose, then drop the tank down and roll it out.

A light hammer with a prybar / straight screwdriver will help in releasing the locking ring, then the sending unit / pump will lift right right out. Watch out for the gasket.

Replacement is the opposite of removal. Getting that fuel fill hose lined up and clamped in will exhaust your store of swear words, though. It did mine, and I spent 6 years in the Navy. :lol:

 

[BroncoJeff]

Is it a float guage?

 

[Bebop Man]

Is it a float guage?

Mine was. I think that's the standard.

 

[BroncoJeff]

Mine is too, its fun when you go around a corner and you hit E, and then you starighten back out and your on full again. LOL

 

[B-150 Mudder]

Probably not your problem but this past weekend I had to put an entirely different wiring harness in my 86. When I did so it fixed my starting problem and my gas gauge not working that was after itried a new sending unit and tracing wires to see if I had broke or shorted something. best thing to do is test it with a ohm meter and see if you are getting power. Another option may be putting in a different gauge cluster, there may be an issue with your current cluster since the gas and odometer are both not working. Just some suggestions, hope it helps.

 

[jsomedaysoon]

thanks for the info i apologize that its taken me so long to respond but i'm in the middle of a move and havent hooked up the net yet. so anyways the last guy sounds kinda close with the gauge cluster thing. i didnt mention it before because i didnt think it mattered but really the only gauges that do work are the tach and the oil presure. the spedometer worked for a while but then went crazy like it would bounce from 5 to 50 mph when i was doing a steady 30. but now it doesent work at all. so if i was going to test the sending unit itself how would i do that? i'm not really fermiliar with those ohm meters. thanks again for the help.

 

[B-150 Mudder]

I would try to get a Haynes manual and see if tells you the amount of ohms that you should have. If it talks about it it should also tell you what your test points are and then you should just put you meter of each of the test points and see if the numbers match what they are supposed to be. I fortunately never had to test mine since it was my wiring harness. I did however just realize you think the engine came from a 91 stang and that may mean that there is an issue with your wiring harness depending on how much they really changed when changing the engine.

 

[jsomedaysoon]

yes when i got the truck the guy told me that the "entire drive train" was from a 91 mustang. i dont know if i believe that or not but i do know that there isent much on the truck thats factory. so who knows. i'll try to test the sending unit this weekend. i've devoted this whole weekend to my truck haha.