no fuel gauge

[sluginxlt]

not sure if this has anything to do with electrical but on my 1990 ranger the fuel gauge hasn't worked since i got it, and i know nothing about this, so does anybody have any ideas or ways for me to find out what the problem is? really hope its not part of the fuel pump, cause that would suck to have to buy a whole new pump to get my gas gauge to work

[4x4junkie]

Most likely its a sunk float.

There should be a way to check the wiring by shunting the sender wires with a certain amount of resistance to see if the gauge deflects. I don't know offhand what the resistance is though.

[sluginxlt]

can i buy just a float or does that mean i have to buy a whole new fuel pump?

[shadetree]

You can check the gauge by grounding the wire to the sender. It should deflect the needle all the way full, and when you un-ground it, it will fall back to empty.

A new float is only available with the pump assembly as far as I know. I haven't tried to buy one lately, but I bought one last summer, and they were not available separately. shady

[MAKG]

Last time I went there, you could buy the sender assembly separately from the fuel pump (but it wasn't that much cheaper), but you couldn't just buy a float.