87 hilux pickup fuel guage problem

hey all. hope you can help me out on this one.

the fuel guage on my dash doesnt move above zero.
firstly i thought it was just low because i hadnt used the truck for a while
but, even after filling up what would normally be about half a tank, the
guage still read empty.

i drove it around a bit, and it did briefly come back to life, reading
almost full. but now reads empty again.

have i got myself a fuel sender or fuel guage problem?
does anyone know what the voltage reading is the sender feeds to the guage?
at the moment its varies between 1 and 7v but never constant.

any help is much appreciated

On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 23:20:45 +0100, "Tinpotlocal" <none@nohome.com>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>hey all. hope you can help me out on this one.
>
>the fuel guage on my dash doesnt move above zero.
>firstly i thought it was just low because i hadnt used the truck for a while
>but, even after filling up what would normally be about half a tank, the
>guage still read empty.
>
>i drove it around a bit, and it did briefly come back to life, reading
>almost full. but now reads empty again.
>
>have i got myself a fuel sender or fuel guage problem?
>does anyone know what the voltage reading is the sender feeds to the guage?
>at the moment its varies between 1 and 7v but never constant.[/color]

Sure sounds like a dead gauge sender to me, especially if the gauge
"comes back to life" consistently every time the tank reaches that
'almost full' level. Time to clean out the bed and see if you have an
access hatch to get to the top of the fuel tank, otherwise it's fuel
tank dropping time.

(It could be a loose connection at the tank or a bad gauge if it was
just plain dead always, at any level. The "works at 3/4" eliminates
that possibility.)

Standard disclaimer: Have the fuel tank nearly empty, do the work
outdoors with a breeze (not in a sealed up garage with the door down),
lots of fire extinguishers on hand, No Smoking, Sparks, Ignition
Sources Or Open Flames within at least 50 feet, and remember that
gasoline fumes are the dangerous part.

If there were no fumes present, you could put a match out in a pool
of liquid gasoline - it's the gasoline vapors mixed with atmospheric
oxygen anywhere between the (rather wide) upper and lower explosive
limits that can go BOOM!! on you.

--<< Bruce >>--

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
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