i have recently installed dakota digital guages. my concern is with my fp guage. the 1st tank of fuel had me at 11-12 at idle,8-9 crusing and 5-7 at wot. then during a trip that weekend immediately after i refueled my guage reading were erratic. they would increase with speed until they went off my scale(0-30). now after refueling they read 16-17 at idle, 12-14 crusing and 8-10 wot. why would they vary soo much? is my sending unit shot? my truck has 55,000 miles and shows no signs of slowing down. thanks for your comments

 

Hello Kevlar and welcome to the site. It would be a good idea to fill in your signature area of your profile with the details of your truck so people who are familiar with your truck can help.
Where do you have the transmitter located and how is it hooked up? If its hooked directly to the vp44 it will cause you problems. I used a high-pressure grease fitting hose to mount the transmitter on the wheel well to protect the transmitter from the vibrations. http://www.villageforge.com/fuelgauge.pdf
My readings are nice and smooth and so far very consistent.

 

I would check your electrical connections. If you don't have a solid connection at any place in the circut, then that would cause some of the problems that you are describing. It would also be a good idea to put some dielectric grease on the connections.

Good luck,
Hunter

 

thank you for your reply. i just filled in my signature. you are correct, my sending unit is attached to a banjo fitting at the vp44. i attatched it there because i saw somewhere that i would get the best reading there becauce it would vibrate with the engine there.

 

I have Westech gauges, and mounted the sending unit on a bracket, on the intake manifold. I hooked up to the banjo right after the fuel filter before the VP44. I am considering adding another sender on the back side of the fuel filter. With a switch in the A-pillar, I would be able to see the difference in pressure, pre-filter verses post-filter. Like dodgediesel4x4 said, check your connections.

 

Mount the sender on an 18" grease gun hose. It helps isolate it from the vibrations. I had a dakota digital gauge. I've replaced the sender on it 4 times. I finally said screw it and put an ISSPRO mechanical on there. Must boost gauge sender also went bad once or twice on me. I'm hoping my EGT and Tranny temp gauges are still reading right.

 

well, i broke a lead on the sending unit and had to wait to receive a new one. i mounted the new sending unit as per bigblue and now the guage reads smooth and steady. thanks for the tip. my current readings are 12 at idle, 8-10 cruising, 6.5wot. similar to my previous readings. should i replace my lift pump now? or wait?

 

I've heard that anything less than 10 at WOT requires some attention. I've only replaced on pump on mine and I was at 3PSI
WOT and good at the other trial places. The Dodge dealer accepted the 3PSI and replaced the pump. The mechanic did not want to do the flow test since it would fail anyway.

Dave

 

When I replaced the stock banjo bolts with high flow ones I picked up about 3psi across the board. I would do that before replacing the lift pump.
http://216.167.41.9/CoastalData/show...ID=593&CATID=1
I would get the BF-KIT-3/2 (3 banjo bolts, 2 tapped banjo bolts, 10 Cummins gaskets): $36.00
The tapped bolts are to be used at the VP-44 and the intake side of the filter for fuel pressure test ports.

Wildcat also has the high flow bolts and a nice system called the Max Flow System. http://www.wildcatdiesel.com/