91 fuel guage problems

[dlefebvre]

have a 91 350 with a fuel guage with a mind of its own. Guage shows only 3/4 full when tank is filled and soon after a short while of driving, the guage drops down to empty. It might linger at half way for a bit and flicker up or down, but usually it drops down to empty and just sits there. Not sure if it is the sender or float or what. Any one else experienced this problem?

 

[Philip]

Sounds like a bad float. I do not know if our trucks run a brass float or a plastic one. The problem your talking about sounds like a brass float. I have seen many of them do this.



If someone doesn't know what our trucks use them it is time to drop the tank. Pull the sending unit and check it.

 

[BushWakr - RIP]

We were just talking about this today with another new 1st Gen member.

His is doing the same thing. I'd agree that you should look at the float/sender for a problem.



Bob.

 

[Tim1]

sender

This is a common problem on these trucks, the sender is the culprit. Some have found a cheap way to fix this, however I got a new one from the dealer and it worked just fine. Don't have to pull tank out, just loosen it and move to get to the top to change the sender. Hardest part is getting the fuel out of the tank to do the job! Tim

 

[sgriffing]

The reostat must be bad on mine.

Haven't added fuel in a while and it goes from full to empty to half... ... ..... and so on. Ithought it was a loose wire when it went from half to empty. then three days later it was full.

 

[C. Harlan]

My 91 D250's fuel gauge used to do that... the gauge stopped working when you got the tank slam full, but when you got to about 7/8, it would work just fine... I miss that truck more than anything. I still see it around, but it hurts to see it in the hands of someone who does not take care of it.

 

[Braveair78]

Gremlin found

I replaced the sender on my 93 Dakota a couple

of years ago and saw the gauge on my 93 D350

do this a couple of days ago as well. As the

float moves up and down the contacts on the

moving part contact the signal wire to the

gauge... . and after awhile the contact rubbing

wears the contacts off. These senders are made

for Dodge by Wagner and the only fix I know of

is to replace the sender. Simple as this may

sound you have two choices:

1) remove the bed of your pickup to remove

the sender

2)remove the fuel tank

When I replaced mine I removed the bed because the wires and fuel lines are much easier to remove this way... plus while you have the bed off it's easy to do other maintenance as well. The

sender screws in the top of the tank with a big

collar which may need the influence of a hammer

and a drift. Fuel connection points are easy to

remove... pop out the lock collars and remove the

fuel lines.