Gas Gauge Broke

[Guitarplaya39]

My fuel gauge suddenly broke . Says empty and low fuel light is on. Computer says 20 miles to empty. It has sat for a little while and it was already kind of low when it happened, but I put some fuel in it to see if maybe that would "unstick" anything.
I've never dealt with an issue like this before and I was hoping there might be something "easy" to take a look at before having to drop the tank...

Thanks for any help!

 

[81runner]

The sending unit is nothing more than a float and dial attached to the fuel pump assembly. All one unit. Now, you could just buy a new sending unit and swap it out. But I feel like if you're going thru the trouble of getting it out, you might as well just replace the whole pump assembly.
Now you can drop the fuel tank, or if you're feeling adventurous, you can cut the floor underneath the driver side rear seat where the unit plugs in and access it from there. That was the route I took, total time of 2 hours to change out. Made a new cover for it and all is well.

 

[hunterD1]

mine got stuck a few years back, i disconnected the battery and it worked again... try that free idea first. dont know why but it worked for me.

 

[Bumbo]

Kinda cool actually … probably adds a ton of suspense to the drive.

I would leave it broken and see if you can make it off gut feeling alone.

 

[AuSeeker]

Kinda cool actually … probably adds a ton of suspense to the drive.

I would leave it broken and see if you can make it off gut feeling alone.

I track my MPG on every fill up, so I could go without the gas gauge and go by miles driven alone and feel confident I would never run out of gas, I always fill up with around 3+ gallons left in the tank and use the miles driven more so then the gauge to judge when to fill up.

That being said it would add a tiny bit of excitement not having the gas gauge, because I do actually look at it, I just don't rely entirely on it.

 

[Guitarplaya39]

Kinda cool actually … probably adds a ton of suspense to the drive.

I would leave it broken and see if you can make it off gut feeling alone.

Best idea yet. Definitely makes it exciting except for the brief panic attack I have every time I look at the gauge.

 

[Guitarplaya39]

mine got stuck a few years back, i disconnected the battery and it worked again... try that free idea first. dont know why but it worked for me.

Cool, I'll give it a shot at least. I love free repairs.
Probably just end up going by the odometer... gotta fix the AC and exhaust didn't pass inspection so I'll be broke.

 

[Bumbo]

Best idea yet. Definitely makes it exciting except for the brief panic attack I have every time I look at the gauge.

That's what i'm talking about!

It's like navigating using the stars...panic attack is imminent because I don't know how to do it.

 

[Toyojay]

Kinda cool actually … probably adds a ton of suspense to the drive.

I would leave it broken and see if you can make it off gut feeling alone.

LOL mines been broken for a while now.

 

[4ward]

Mine has been broken sense I got it. After tie rod ends, timing belt, water pump, all new brakes and a slew of other fixes, this fix got pushed to the back burner.

I hit reset on the trip odometer at each fill up. I have a 4.7L, and have made it as far as 317 miles until she started drawing air.

 

[L8Shift]

If you wonder what this entails...

I chose to replace the entire cartridge with pump and fuel level sender.

Having a consistent commute is fine with a busted gauge, but add wheeling trips with seldom fuel stops, and it gets sketchy....

 

[81runner]

If you wonder what this entails...

I chose to replace the entire cartridge with pump and fuel level sender.

Having a consistent commute is fine with a busted gauge, but add wheeling trips with seldom fuel stops, and it gets sketchy....

Yep! You could also, you're feeling sporting, pull out the driver rear seat and roll the carpet back towards the cargo Bay. You'll find an access port for wiring, though it's too small to get the pump out without cutting. Took me about 30 minutes to get it where I could access it without dropping the tank

 

[mijbr90190]

I've had pretty good results using Chevron Techron Complete Fuel System cleaner. Within a tank of using a bottle of that and a shell vpower, the gas gauge started working again. It still acts up now and again but it's been way better than when I first bought it, where it wouldn't read fuel or would get stuck on empty. I usually track my miles anyway and figure I'm safe to at least 250mi.