towin1JT

I know of sevral '97 Dodges that lose the gas gage at about 70K miles. Any insight would be appreciated before I have to empty the 36 gallon tank and find that it was a simple wiring problem all along.

Thanks

John in California

Stamey

From what I hear, the second gen bodies have lots of problems with fuel sending units. There is a defect in the design. There is a site someplace that explains how to modify a new gauge to fix the flaw.<br>As far as checking it out, determine which wire goes to the sending unit and pull it. The gauge will go either full or empty, if the gauge isn't broke. That's about all you can verify with this test, besides voltage to the end of the wire.<br>If you can get a new sending unit you can probably unhook the unit in the tank and hook up the new unit externally to verify it will fix the problem before dropping the tank. Cabeat: I'm not sure how much slack there is in the sending unit harness.<br><br>What problem are you having?<br><br>Chris

towin1JT

At 70k miles the gage started reading 1/2 full when it was full. It got progressively worse and eventually by 90k miles it always read empty. I emailed dodge about the defect and they blew me off saying it was out of warranty!

Cumminsdude

Well my guage reads right but it is kinda screwy. When I shut my truck off and then start it back up the guage is always about 1/8th lower than the tank is but after a few miles it begins to go back up slowly. I don't know I guess I am used to it but thats gotta suck to have to drop the tank. Good Luck

sherod

Instead of dropping the tank, I lifted the bed. Lots easier IMHO. Two people can move the bed to the rear and balance it on the bumper. Just be careful with the lights and the filler neck. I now can see the ground while I fill up. There is only 8 ( I think) bolts to remove. There is another link around here somewhere about doing it this way. Biggest pain on mine was getting the tank ring loose. Good luck, <br>Ed

Stamey

[quote author=towin1JT link=board=5;threadid=17211;start=0#161386 date=1058541778]<br>At 70k miles the gage started reading 1/2 full when it was full. It got progressively worse and eventually by 90k miles it always read empty. I emailed dodge about the defect and they blew me off saying it was out of warranty!<br>[/quote]<br><br>Sounds like the sending unit to me. You might try what I suggested before dropping the tank. The tank isn't that bad to drop, since it's plastic. Make sure you are pretty close to empty, as best you can guess. If you keep track of your mileage it will be easier to guess at.<br><br>Chris

towin1JT

Yea I looked at both lifting the bed and dropping the tank and after you take away the common items from each method it comes down to two tank strap fasteners versus 8 bed fasteners and some taillight electrical. I went with dropping the tank which was about half full. I used a 1 1/8&quot; piece of plywood to distribute the load and a floorjack. I spent more time hunting for my 3/8&quot; ratchet than I did dropping the tank.<br><br>I found that the thin (copper?) contacts on the float unit were not making contact. I bent them back into shape, plugged the module back in under the truck and the gage worked. I am going to replace the float sending unit anyway since I have the tank out. I also ended up fixing the location of the top of the module with respect to the bottom like some suggested but my measurement was 13 5/8&quot;. I think it is ok to fix this position so the module can't move up and down as long as you are in a mild climate that doesn't have extreme temperature flucuations. <br><br>John

towin1JT

OK I put the new float sending unit in after work last night. I drained the half full tank down to about 5 gallons and put it right in. From strat to finish (tank on the garage floor with no sending unit to filling the installed tank back up with fuel) took less than 45 minutes. No leaks and the gage works great!<br><br>Thanks everyone,<br><br>John