1988 2.0 fuel gauge

[epicthread]

I have an 88 2.0 carb'd and the fuel gauge isnt working. Ive taken the bed off and jumped the two wire only for nothing to happen. Changed the grounds and nothing happend. Im pulling my hair out. Any ideas?

 

[Mazda]

Did you pull the pump to see what condition the float is in.?

Is it a new pump and sender. The Ford and Spectra pumps have a nice float setup. The Airtex pumps have a crappie wire float that looks like a 4 year old designed it.

You might have a bad gauge. Broken wire to the instrument cluster?

 

[RonD]

Good read here: http://www.fordification.com/tech/fuel-sending-units.htm

Yes if you grounded the sender wire at the gas tank then on an '88 the gauge should go to FULL
75 ohms Empty
10ohms Full
Ground is 0 ohms so should show Full if grounded

In '89 the ohms were reversed so senders and gauges are not compatable with older Fords

As the article above shows there is a 5volt pulsed power supply in the dash board that powers the fuel gauge, it could be bad or fuse has blown, but other gauges should also be effected if that were the case.

 

[epicthread]

I didnt pull the pump and sending unit as id have to drop the tank and i already had the bed off. Too much work. I just dont understand why the gauge wouldnt work after grounding it. I even changed the grond to right on the frame and nothing. Where could I get a new IVR? I put in a tach dash from the same year but neither dash fuel gauges worked. Also, when i got the truck ot had an aftet market gauge setup. That leads to me believing that none of the othet gauges might have worked?

 

[Mark_88]

The 88 carbed 2.0 didn't actually have a pump in the tank because the carb was fed by the manual pump on the side of the block. Aside from that, pulling the sending unit out to check it might be needed as there may be something loose...somewhere.

Good article provided by RonD that should tell you what is happening. Replacing the sending unit if needed would be best done with the bed off again...

If you tested what the article stated, what where the results? If it doesn't peg out by grounding the unit in the dash to the body of the unit then you may have an interruption of the power supply...meaning fuse or maybe key off...whatever...