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Well a couple months back I noticed my fuel gauge acting up. Sometimes it would read empty on a full tank and half about 15 minutes later. Drove me crazy.
I talked to a couple mechanics and backyarders and they all said it was the antislosh unit located behind the dash. Most forums also blame the antislosh unit. I still wasn't convinced... actually i really didn't feel like taking the dash apart in the first place. I checked the giant plug under my dash and that seemed good. Took a look at some schematics I had, followed them and found a set to test.
I decided to remove the pump/sending unit to inspect. Instead of emptying the tank and lowering it, I decided to remove the truck bed. Easy as pie. Undid the gas filler hose and vent, removed the box's six torx bolts, uncliped the wiring harness and pulled it back on some 2x4s. You need about 10in of clearance between the bed and cab.
Before removing the lock ring, I sprayed the tank down with my garden hose to clean off all the dirt and muck. It also provides a little more safety with an open gas tank.
I removed the hoses (thumb push type), the harness, removed the lock ring and with a bit of patience removed the octopus like pump/sending unit.
I put my multimeter on the sending unit and found that the resistance of the swing was horrible. I was imagining that it would read something like 0 ohms down and 200 ohms up, but it was all over the place, up to infinity in the middle. So somethings whack with the sending unit.
Can't purchase the sending unit on its own. Screw that I will fix this one. If you look at the sending unit there is a plastic mount that the arm pivots in and wires lead into. If that is removed the radial/linear potentiometer is visible. And mine was all black and gross. I took an eraser and removed all the black junk on the contacts. I also notice that there is another sliding contact on the units mount. A little 1000 grit sand paper to that and its clean as well.
Put it all back together, slid the bed back in place, screwd er down good, (remember to align the box or people will make fun of you) and don't forget to remount the gas filler and vent hoses or your shoes will stink like gas and the girlfriend will make you keep them outside then a skunk will think they are a nice place to take a dookie.
Total job took me about 4 hours, but that includes many beer breaks and couple trips to my first aid cabinet.
I talked to a couple mechanics and backyarders and they all said it was the antislosh unit located behind the dash. Most forums also blame the antislosh unit. I still wasn't convinced... actually i really didn't feel like taking the dash apart in the first place. I checked the giant plug under my dash and that seemed good. Took a look at some schematics I had, followed them and found a set to test.
I decided to remove the pump/sending unit to inspect. Instead of emptying the tank and lowering it, I decided to remove the truck bed. Easy as pie. Undid the gas filler hose and vent, removed the box's six torx bolts, uncliped the wiring harness and pulled it back on some 2x4s. You need about 10in of clearance between the bed and cab.
Before removing the lock ring, I sprayed the tank down with my garden hose to clean off all the dirt and muck. It also provides a little more safety with an open gas tank.
I removed the hoses (thumb push type), the harness, removed the lock ring and with a bit of patience removed the octopus like pump/sending unit.
I put my multimeter on the sending unit and found that the resistance of the swing was horrible. I was imagining that it would read something like 0 ohms down and 200 ohms up, but it was all over the place, up to infinity in the middle. So somethings whack with the sending unit.
Can't purchase the sending unit on its own. Screw that I will fix this one. If you look at the sending unit there is a plastic mount that the arm pivots in and wires lead into. If that is removed the radial/linear potentiometer is visible. And mine was all black and gross. I took an eraser and removed all the black junk on the contacts. I also notice that there is another sliding contact on the units mount. A little 1000 grit sand paper to that and its clean as well.
Put it all back together, slid the bed back in place, screwd er down good, (remember to align the box or people will make fun of you) and don't forget to remount the gas filler and vent hoses or your shoes will stink like gas and the girlfriend will make you keep them outside then a skunk will think they are a nice place to take a dookie.
Total job took me about 4 hours, but that includes many beer breaks and couple trips to my first aid cabinet.
