kawi600

Thought Id share a little tip if you guys ever have sender go bad.
unplug the 4-pin connector on the top-middle of the tank and short pins 2 and 3, if the guage goes to full its the sender.
pull off the filler and vent hoses as well as the two fuel lines. lower the tank and unscrew the retaining ring.
the sender has this arm that pivots on a metal pin but the thing can pull up and away from the unit enough to get bad contacts.
I just took a cotter pin and crushed the head enough for it to jam in the pin-hole nicely, and split the ends over the pivot point so it cant rise and pull away from the unit.
coulnt hurt to tweak the contact that rubs the washer underneath it either.
I also lost my float in the tank someplace, ended up hacking something as a float. Im sure Ill be in there again in a year or so when it melts ;p

ratsun

Good tip
Thanks I think I will need it as my new truck(to me ) the gauge dosent seem to read right all the time. It read empty yet I could only put 55L in but after filling it went up and seems ok?

NHDiesel

Ratsun, With your year truck, I think a brand new sender from the dealer is like $50...hardly worth fooling with a repair for. For us older guys, ours are over $300. '96 was the last year of the expensive ones...'97s are around $50.

When i did mine, I wanted to make sure i didn't have to go back in the tank for a while, so I removed the pin and drilled the hole a hair larger to accept a 4-40 screw (I think it took a 1/8" bit...can't remember). I bolted it together with a couple washers and a spring like the popular repair links show to do (using the bolt instead of a pin like the links). I did adjust the contacts like you did though...I noticed how the contacts seemed to be sprung out from age.

Jim

kawi600

one thing Id like to know.. what is the mystery switch? A TCC lockup switch?
PO of my truck installed some switches and theres only one of them that seems to do anything. Not brave enough to tackle the rats nest of wiring yet.

ratsun

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Yep

Iron City

kawi600, I'm trying to test my fuel sender the way you describe in your initial post. I can't for the life of me get the black wired plug out of the grey socket. There is what looks like a red tab on top of the grey socket. Is there something I need to pry or lift up to get the black plug out?

kawi600

yeah I had a hard time getting that off also it ended up snapping and popping off. my guess is slide something under it so its not locking on top. I used a light and a mirror to see what was up there.

NHDiesel

The red clip gets slid sideways (as compared to the plug). It will move about 1/8" then you can unplug the connector.

Jim

Iron City

thanks NHDiesel, I got the plug pulled and shorted pins 2 and 3 (I'm assuming pins 2 and 3 are the two middle ones, correct?), but that had no effect on my fuel gauge. Think that could possibly mean my sender is actually ok and I have a wiring or fuse problem?