Fuel tank dimensions on a 1990 extended cab

[1990RangerinSK]

Question - I know that my 1990 extended cab has a 15 gallon tank. Does anybody know it's dimensions? I'm mainly interested in height/depth. I'd also like to know if the filler neck is straight.

I theoretically ran out of gas at the beginning of February. So, I put just over 1 gallon in it to get me to the gas station, and then a few days later went and filled it. My "empty" tank took around 7.5 gallons to fill. I figured that the pump had cut out because it was filling too fast.

Today, I asked for $20.00 worth of gas. They put in $10.00 (I guess the pump cut out).

I'm getting really annoyed with never knowing how much gas I have in the tank. It was one thing when I figured that I could drive 30-40 miles on $20.00 worth of gas, and just watched how much I drove. I could reasonably expect that I was close to empty by the time I went to fill again. But to be "empty" and only take $29.00 to fill (should be around $60), and then to drive about 15 miles or so, go to put $20.00 in and end up with $10.00, this is ridiculous. You may remember another thread of mine at the beginning of February in which we were positing that my fuel pump was bad. I thought maybe I got off lucky, but now I'm not so sure.

What I want to do is make myself a dip stick, that I can dip into the tank and measure how much gas I have (unless somebody has a working pump assembly they want to give away, but then I still have to install it).

Thanks! Pictures of the path that the neck takes would also be useful.

 

[Andy D]

Spend a few bucks on a 2 gallon gas can and a funnel. Secure this in the bed. If you're not gonna fix it, take precautions. I doubt you can stick the tank via the filler neck.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

That's an idea for sure, Andy. I *thought* I was doing really well by figuring out how far I could go on an amount of gas, and filling up before I got there. Unfortunately, if $20.00 worth of gas (approximately 20 liters, or 5.2 gallons) is really only taking me about 18 to 20 miles, I'm getting REALLY bad gas mileage.

I had filled the tank (supposedly) three weeks ago, and then filled it again on Thursday. It took $10.00 to fill, about 10 liters (2.1 gallons). That works out to 4.8MPG, which is bad, but if consistently putting $20.00 in it every month after the last time I ran out of gas was really running me close to empty (so I ran out of gas again last month) then that's even worse.

That's why I want to use a stick of some sort to measure how much gas I've got. Either I ran it out of gas (it should have cost me $60.00 to fill if I did), or my fuel pump is on the way out. Knowing how much gas I have would answer the question for me.

 

[saskbill]

Dipstick is not a bad idea in principle, just that the fuel hose makes a couple of twists and turns from the side filler hatch to the top of the tank. And your dipstick would have to fit down the narrow center hose that connects to the quarter-sized non-leaded port that the fuel nozzle fits into. Maybe something flexible like a pieces of fishing rod?

I know it is possible to stuff something down there, since I did manage to siphon fuel from my 88 after its fatal transmission pile-up. But it wasn't easy, and things end up entering the tank at an angle, so you'd have a heck of a time getting an accurate read of level. More like a some fuel/tank dry test at best.

 

[saskbill]

http://www.fordrangerforum.com/4-0-sohc-4-0-ohv-tech/55148-fuel-filter-fuel-sending-unit.html

This is for a 2004, but the general arrangement of the tank, filler neck and fuel pump/sender is similar. There are some pretty good 'real life' pics of the tank and fittings with the bed removed so you can see them (about 7 posts down in the thread - just keep scrolling down til you see pictures!)

 

[1990RangerinSK]

Thanks, Bill! That picture of the filler neck is helpful. Unfortunately, it puts a kink in my plan.

I'll have a look at that thread, too. Thanks!

 

[1990RangerinSK]

I looked through that thread, Bill, and it looks really helpful. Thanks!