'98 Fuel Guage Stuck

[James_BOND]

'98 Fuel Gauge Stuck

So I was less than a quarter tank and I pulled up to pump. I filled it all the way up and drove off. I was driving for ~10 minutes and my fuel gauge was marking only a bit over 1/4 gas. I have driven it +60 miles and it is still stuck a bit over 1/4 and does not move. I have checked all my fuses and there's nothing blown.

I was looking through a lot of threads and I see nothing about calibrating/resetting '98 4runner fuel gauges. All I see is '99 fuel gauge resets. I also have a '99 t4r and the whole dash is different(electric odo).

I doubt that my fuel pump went bad, I've been driving it and it still runs strong. No loss of power.

Is there a fuel gauge fuse that I may have blown or may be a short?
I need this issue fixed, its my DD and I need to know how much I have in my tank. I would hate to have my trip meter as my fuel gauge. :nono:

 

[StreetCreeper]

I'm sure someone will come along with the solution, however, that person isn't me as I don't have a good answer for you—I wish I did. But if this were the movies, you would just tap on the gauge face and it would magically start working again.

I know if it were me, while waiting for a good answer on here, I would probably smack the top of the dash a few times in the off-chance it really was just sticking for some reason.

 

[James_BOND]

I'll be trying a list of small things hopefully I'll find the source of the problem. If I find the solution, I'll definitely let people know.

 

[James_BOND]

:jump: So I got it fixed!

Events:
Drove the truck for ~250 miles. That's about on par with where the fuel gauge was reading and got stuck originally. Then all of the sudden while driving, bam!, my fuel gauge starts climbing to more than the level should be after 250miles. I took a snapshot of it real quick. (Pic. A)

So I drive another ~20 miles and I noticed that the gauge went down and was reading correctly, it did go decided to pump again. I usually get a bit over 300 miles per tank and I was a bit over 270 miles.

I pump and pull up to a Costco after two minutes of being on. And I look at my gauge and its stuck at a lower level. (Pic. B) And I said oh well, it was probably a fluke.

After I went on with my business and buying things I shouldn't be at Costco haha, I got on the freeway again. I drove for ~5 miles and hit a few bumps here and there and when I look down, bam! it starts climbing as fast at it usually does when I fill up my tank. (Pic. C) I drive 15+ miles and it goes down as it should after driving ~20 miles.

Theory:
I believe what happened was that when I pumped the first time, my gas tank floater probably got stuck. It could have been gunk, small rocks, dirt, who knows? I used up my gas to where the floater was. I hit a bump on the road and it got unstuck because it was freefalling. I pumped again. It got stuck again with the same garbage. After driving the baby for a couple miles, the new gas washed off the cr@p.

Suggestions:
Drive until your gas<= floater height(maybe more). Go off-roading to get the floater unstuck:guitar3:. Fill your tank again. Do some more off-roading:guitar3: to wash off the remaining gunk. Add some fuel cleaner to get rid of the mud, which I will be doing tomorrow.

I'm glad I drive 120+ miles/day with this baby, or else I would be dreading a week long to finish off the gunky fuel in my tank. :driving:
:welcome:

(Pic. A)

(Pic. B)

(Pic. C)

 

[MxwlT4R99]

This seems interesting, but your pics don't work (at least for me)

 

[Arrowhead]

My old 98 4runners fuel gauge wouldn't go below a 1/4 tank when I bought it and for a few months the low fuel light remained on and I couldn't trust the fuel gauge unless it was full. One day when I was out wheeling it started working again and never messed up for a year and a half. I don't know what was wrong with it, but I also think that it got stuck and I knocked it loose wheeling.

 

[James_BOND]

This seems interesting, but your pics don't work (at least for me)

I fixed the pics.:hatsoff:

 

[James_BOND]

My old 98 4runners fuel gauge wouldn't go below a 1/4 tank when I bought it and for a few months the low fuel light remained on and I couldn't trust the fuel gauge unless it was full. One day when I was out wheeling it started working again and never messed up for a year and a half. I don't know what was wrong with it, but I also think that it got stuck and I knocked it loose wheeling.

Ok, that's good. Hopefully this thread helps out someone b/c I was already dreading that I had to drop the gas tank and see what was going on and then removing the dash.

Cheers! :tea: