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Ford 9N, 2N & 8N Discussion Forum
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OT-Ford F150 gas gauge

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Mike S

06-28-2007 04:53:22




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Hi, I have a great old 85 F150. It has dual tanks. I fill it up and both tanks will read full. As I drive it, the gauge goes down to empty, but when I go to refill it, it only holds 10-12 gallons (it is a 19 gallon tank) and it does it in either tank. Now if I don"t fill it up, and keep driving, after a bit, the gas gauge will come by up to about 1/4 full and from there it will gradually go back down to when it is really empty. Any clues to what is going on here? I don"t see that the floats could be bad since it will read full when actually full. Thanks for any tips.

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Phil (NJ,Az,Sask)

06-28-2007 10:08:11




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to Mike S, 06-28-2007 04:53:22  
Mike S, The F150 used three Basic different configurations for Pump & Gauge Selections. The CARB & "in-line" 3 port pump with 2 tanks, The CARB/EFI & "in-line" 6 port pump with two tanks, The EFI with "In tank pumps" & 6 port selector
for two tanks.

All three Systems only return (One) 1 wire to the Gauge (my Bad) via switch selection. The ground is sourced at the Tank and is common to the variable tap of the sender.

My problem is/was the Sender in the Tank!

Phil,

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BCnT

06-28-2007 07:30:02




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to Mike S, 06-28-2007 04:53:22  
since youre having the same prob on front / rear tanks i'd look real close at the gauge in dash...if i remember rite the '85 still had steel tanks so they should be grounded but you could try a jumper with aligator clips to rule out ground probs.



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Phil (NJ,AZ,Sask)

06-28-2007 07:10:14




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to Mike S, 06-28-2007 04:53:22  
Mike S, I have a 88 F150 4X4 with Dual Tanks. My Rear
tank has that Problem. It reads Full until ~1/2 tank and then Empty until its empty.

Mine acts like the ground wire is missing between the rear Tank Sender & frame. I just work around the problem by using my rear tank First, with front as the backup.

Yours may be missing (bad Connection)the ground wire between both tanks & Frame, or (unlikely) between Gauge & frame.

The Tank/Pump Switch only switches 2 wires Hi(voltage to sender) & Sender resistor Center Tap (variable). The Ground (third wire) is provided at source(tank) and destination (Gauge)

Good Luck,

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Jim SC

06-28-2007 06:50:09




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to Mike S, 06-28-2007 04:53:22  
The gauge on my 8N has never worked. I just open the gas cap and look in...simple.



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Lance in Brenham, TX

07-07-2007 10:57:23




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to Jim SC, 06-28-2007 06:50:09  
Can't see into your truck fuel tank, dipstick.



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mechanicfred

06-28-2007 06:13:38




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to Mike S, 06-28-2007 04:53:22  
take the wire off the sending unit (not the ground wire) the signal wire, ground it to a good ground. if the gauge pegs out full the sender is bad. if the gauge does nothing or hardly no movment it is bad.



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Phil (NJ,AZ,Sask)

06-28-2007 09:01:36




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to mechanicfred, 06-28-2007 06:13:38  
[qoute]the signal wire, ground it to a good ground. if the gauge pegs out full [/quote]

MechanicFred, If that is true! "Min R = Full" then my previous post (missing Ground) may be wrong.

The Hi-(voltage)side, which is switched by Tank/Pump, may be the missing voltage on mine & Mike's.

Mike S may have a bad wire or connector on the gauge side (input) of the Switch & mine is on the Rear-Tank side of the Switch.

That actually makes Sense! Time to measure some voltages. I think the (2 to 1) Switch is physically located next to the inline Pump that
is on the frame near driver's side.

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Jason Simmerman

06-28-2007 06:03:00




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to Mike S, 06-28-2007 04:53:22  
Most of the gas gauge senders are based off of resistance in the sender. In the newer GM's the gauge goes off a reading of 0-250 ohms of resistance to ground. The older GM's I think are 0-90 ohms to ground. The higher the resistance the more full the tank is. I'd take a good multimeter sometime and check to see what the resistance is on the circuit when you have a good idea what the fuel level is. Like others said it's pretty simple only 1-2 wires.

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ericlb

06-28-2007 05:07:22




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 Re: OT-Ford F150 gas gauge in reply to Mike S, 06-28-2007 04:53:22  
these old gauges will do that, fords are known for it, but my old chevy[ '83 c-30] has the same thing going on in reverse, i can fill up and drive for several days and the gauge will read full ,then on 1 trip it will "use" 3/4 tank, what i think is happening is these gauges work by sliding a piece of metal [ the float] up and down a series of wire windings,these are very tiny windings, if one gets broken or is crosses over another you will get a false reading, do you remember those little racing cars called slot cars that every kid had back in the '60's? the hand controls on those worked the same way as your gas gauge, the gauge can also be wacky over time, since yours does it on both tanks i would replace the dash gauge and see if that cures it, if not its the sending units, theres not much else to the system but a couple of wires

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A. Bohemian

06-28-2007 08:27:33




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 My '89 F-150... in reply to ericlb, 06-28-2007 05:07:22  
...with the good ol' straight six AND fuel injection (yes, they made a few that way) has had the same problem for years.

IMPORTANT: If you have fuel injection, don't deal with the problem by running one tank completely empty, and then switching to the other one! There are supply pumps in the tanks which need the resistance of gasoline to keep from overheating. Many thousands of Ford owners burned out these pumps prematurely when the gauges became problematic by running on one tank until the truck started to stall, then switching to the other one. I, on the other hand, am still running all the original pumps after 175,000 miles.

I've driven that truck for about seven years now, without gauges, just watching the odometer. I've never been stranded yet, although occasionally I accidentally run one tank out of gas. If I do, as soon as I can I throw a gallon or two of gas in the empty tank to protect the pump.

I've always been told the problem was likely with the sending unit. I've also been told the tanks must be dropped to replace these, but I've never looked into it.

I believe mechanicfred has given us the correct procedure for determing whether the problem is in the meter itself or in the sending unit; but frankly, it sounds pretty certain that your problem (and mine) ARE in the sending units.

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