Fuel Gauge Sending Unit

[BillBaker]

When people have been replacing the sender, have they found the snap connectors on the hose or the the tank module to be brittle? My truck is in a hot climate and plastic stuff seems to be getting that way. The sender has been bad for several years. I have a replacement from Geno's and I'm fixin' to pump out and drop the tank this weekend.

Was at mine a few weeks ago. NOT brittle but a PITA to remove/destroy as I was switching over fuel lines. Hoping to do the same (switch sending unit) soon. There are some modifications on the sending unit that can be done listed on this forum as well. My truck has lived in many climates from the northeast (Pa.) to the southeast (Ga.) now.

 

[Matt42]

Was at mine a few weeks ago. NOT brittle but a PITA to remove/destroy as I was switching over fuel lines. Hoping to do the same (switch sending unit) soon. There are some modifications on the sending unit that can be done listed on this forum as well. My truck has lived in many climates from the northeast (Pa.) to the southeast (Ga.) now.

Thanks, Bill. I'll report back. Mine's a wee bit different and a little crowded down there. I added a Transfer Flow 38 gallon tank where the spare tire used to be. I need to pump the fuel out of the main tank into the auxiliary tank first.

 

[gcorron]

I thought my sending unit was bad as well. Turned out,,,,,,not so! The thing had rotted in half! Sending unit was good though! Hope you have better luck.

George

 

[Matt42]

Was at mine a few weeks ago. NOT brittle but a PITA to remove/destroy as I was switching over fuel lines. Hoping to do the same (switch sending unit) soon. There are some modifications on the sending unit that can be done listed on this forum as well. My truck has lived in many climates from the northeast (Pa.) to the southeast (Ga.) now.

Well, after two weekends of misery and getting drenched with diesel, I got it done. Pulling out and replacing the sender wasn't a big deal. The retaining nut and gasket were in good shape, and the sending unit cartridge showed no trace of rust or corrosion. That was the only really good part.

The original plastic fuel line had been pinched against the frame rail on the assembly line. Time and heat had set the pinch into a permanent bottleneck, which might have explained some of the slower uphill performance while towing and feeding from all the main tank. (The auxiliary tank wasn't affected.) Almost all of the rubber fuel lines had hardened to the point of being brittle. So replaced the majority of the long runs with steel tubing with rubber hose connections. The 5/16 inch quick connector at the top of the tank unit has not been properly pinned and it looked as if it was about to develop a drainback air leak.

Before undertaking the job, I bought the least expensive Harbour Freight transmission jack and their 12 volt diesel transfer pump. Both tools saved me a lot of time and worked really well. The main tank was of course the full one. So I pumped it into the auxiliary tank. When I had finished with the sender job, I pumped the diesel back into it from the auxiliary tank. (That makes it seem easier than it was, because the suction line won't snake into either tank. I had to remove fill hoses to make it work.)

So I'm soaking my clothes in some sort of detergent concoction that my wife and I hope will remove the diesel smell from them.

Next project is the sender on the aux tank. Which is nonstandard.

 

[Mike B.]

I just replaced mine... As exciting as it was in the beginning, I soon realized that I wasnt actually getting a few hundred miles more per tank just because my fuel gauge wasnt moving. So I've been driving by the odometer for the past few years.

I wonder what eats these Dodge diesel rheostats? A problem I've never experienced on any other vehicle.

Both of my 99's had the sender go bad as well. Like you I've been using the ODO as fuel gauge for years now. It's amazing what you can get used to accepting as being normal.