2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Fuel gauge adjustment???

[.44 mag]

Howdy,



I had the dealer do a VP44 replacement under the warranty and they installed one of the new in-tank lift pumps. Now, my fuel gauge reading seems to be off from what it was before. The gauge sits on the FULL side for what seems like a long time and then it will rapidly drop as it nears the 1/2 mark. I haven't put enough miles on it yet to really track it, but it just seems wrong to me.



Is there an external adjustment to calibrate the gauge to the float level? In the "old days" we just tweaked the float arm a bit till they read right. Please tell me they are a bit more "high tech. " these days.





Hank

 

[BHanna]

I had the same problem on my old '88 Mustang. It read full until I had 1/4 tank so I pulled out the sender and took it apart. The sender was just a printed circuit board (PCB) that the float arm dragged a piece of copper across. All the metal on the PCB between full and 1/4 had been worn off and so it just read full until it hit something. I had to buy a new sending unit but it works great now.



I'm not sure the truck sender is similar but you may want to take yours apart and see if it could be cleaned/repaired. If you try that, you can check it with an analog ohmmeter to see if it'll work before you put it back in. The needle should sweep smoothly from pretty close to zero resistance to it's highest reading as you move the float arm. My new sender cost $120 so it may be worth seeing if it's just dirty.