Sean S

Hi *again*!<br><br>I'm hoping maybe someone could help me diagnose my faulty fuel readings.<br><br>On my truck, my gauge either reads totally empty, or totally full.<br><br>Normally, I could trace down the problem if it read OK, and then full, or OK and then empty (meaning a bad connection on one hand, or a short on the other), but this swing from full-on, full-off has me stumped.<br><br>This is just sender/wire/gauge right? There isn't some super computer in between?<br><br>Thanks Much!<br>Sean

Haulin_in_Dixie

In the tank there is a tube about 5 inches in diameter that hangs down into the fuel. The gage and the fuel pickup is on anothe tube that slides into the top tube. This allows the pickup to float. Also the gage sender floats with it. I would guess that the pickup tube is hanging in the up position until the tank is just about empty and then dropping. But that is where the problem will be.

tmiller24

Replaced the float and level sender in my 95 and found that the wiper arm was worn and not making contact with the grid on the float assembly. Sort of remind me of my slot car controllers of way back. Anyway the two were not staying in contact unless the tank was full. 30 dollars was not a major expense to me for a new assembly and removing the fuel tank was not too bad either,but it sure is nice to know how much fuel is in there. Come to think of it ,I did drive it for almost a year that way and guess that makes me a lazy scumbag!?

Haulin_in_Dixie

[quote author=tmiller24 link=board=4;threadid=7019;start=0#66676 date=1037282416]<br>Replaced the float and level sender in my 95 and found that the wiper arm was worn and not making contact with the grid on the float assembly. Sort of remind me of my slot car controllers of way back. Anyway the two were not staying in contact unless the tank was full. 30 dollars was not a major expense to me for a new assembly and removing the fuel tank was not too bad either,but it sure is nice to know how much fuel is in there. Come to think of it ,I did drive it for almost a year that way and guess that makes me a lazy scumbag!?<br>[/quote]<br><br>Wow, you did it the hard way. : The easy way is to take the four bed mount bolts out of the drivers side and loosen the four on the other side, than jack up the bed a few inches on the drivers side. Fuel gage lifts right out the top of the tank.

Sean S

Hmmm...<br>Well, I should explain better... <br><br>With a full tank, it will alternate between empty and full.<br>With half a tank it will do the same.<br>With a close to emtpy tank, it also does the same.<br><br>All on, or all off at any fuel level.<br><br>Logic says that if it has a bad connection, that it will read correct and drop to zero (or be zero all the time).<br>The other side would be a short, which would read correctly and then go full (or be full all the time)<br><br>All on, or All off, and nothing else is bizzare.<br><br>Sadly, I think I will also have to drop the tank as my frame mounted gooseneck hitch is spray-on-linered into the bed.<br><br>Sean

Haulin_in_Dixie

Your sender is bad. The sender cost me 33.00 at the *******. It is not hard to install, just a pain in the neck. When you look at it you will see why they wear out. Older vehicles had a coil of wire that a contact rode on, these have printed circuit material that the contact rides on.

Pete Dobbs

I've been reading a lot of posts regarding the famous fuel sensor/sending unit problems. I've lived with this uncertain fuel level for several years and tomorrow morning... I'll finally drop that tank and replace that darn thing. I bought the sensor for about 44.00 after taxes from the local dodge dealer a couple of days ago ... we'll see how it goes. After reading about it for what seems like forever, I don't plan on having problems. We'll see about that. It was a real toss up between dropping the tank or lifting the bed. Dropping the tank won out. Wish me luck!

Pete
98' 2500 4X4 205,000 miles and still running strong