I've got an '88, with the 19 gallon driver's side tank/midship/Left Hand tank (I've seen it called all of those things, as well as a PITA!). I just ordered the sending unit for an 88 gasser,
1988-89 Ford Sending Unit for F.I. LH 19 Gallon tank - 1AFSU00069 at 1A Auto.com

1988-89 Ford Sending Unit For F.I. LH 19 Gallon Tank

and snapped off the plastic rheostat from the new one and put it on my diesel pick up unit. put on a new pick-up foot and Presto! Now the gauge reads backwards! Whatever. The float needs no adjusting, it's accurate to how much fuel is in there, and it was super easy, the sending unit from 1aauto was only 55 bucks, and now I can tell how much fuel I have. I'm gonna do the same on the rear tank when I get some time. They'll both read backwards that way, and it will save $$ over the LMC diesel sender.

 

Doesn't 1A auto sell the diesel ones also?

 

The only one I could find there that may have been for diesel was one that didn't say if it was for diesel or gas. the one I got said "no diesel", so that's a gas one. Mine (the "no diesel" one, designated this way not because it doesn't hold up in diesel, which it does, but because it has more wires for the fuel pump) was about $55. The possible diesel one was $140, which is why I didn't get it. Other sites had diesel ones for $150 and up, which I don't have the money for.

 

Either the sending unit they sent you was for the earlier generation of truck (where the resistance/level relationship is reversed), or you mounted the sending unit upside-down on the pickup tube. For S&G and to really wig out your passengers, you could get some white and black detail paint (model car brush paint), remove the dash lens and carefully change the E to and F and the F to an E.

 

Yeah I just mounted it the same way as it had been on the one they gave me. There was only one way for it to go on. That's a great idea about changing the gauge. It can be done with subtlety, since you just erase the bottom line of the E and add a line to the bottom of the F. I hope they send me the same thing for the rear tank.

 

Since I bought my 94 IDI 7 years ago, I've been living with the missing pick-up tube in both tanks. Now that I built a gantry crane in the garage, I was able to pull the bed and do the fix. So, got her all done and buttoned up, took her out for a run up the road, and started getting "fuel filter" light, and erratic running. Limped home and ran down the batteries trying to get her started again. Batteries are charging at the moment. I'm figuring now that I'm drawing fuel from the bottom of the tanks, I'm also sucking up 23 years worth of crap. Does that sound about right to the rest of you? Or could it be I somehow got air in the system from having it opened up when putting on the pick-up hoses? I suppose I'm looking at pulling both tanks and cleaning them up. Probably should have done so when I had the bed off, eh?

 

This ^^^^^^ is what makes simply replacing the showerhead worthwhile. So you didn't even remove or empty either tank? You probably sucked up some bit of the old showerhead, and you may now be looking at dislodging it from the FSV.

 

I'm an IDI van guy, so I don't have the luxury of pulling me bed. But since I recently did a custom modification to my van IDI rear tank sender, I had to drop my tank. And I'd have to think it would be 10x easier just to drop an empty tank than to lift an entire bed. Disconnect the fuel nozzle hoses, disconnect the fuel line hoses, and disconnect the sender connector, then drop the tank. Seems really simple actually. Maybe the tanks are secured differently on trucks than vans, so I'm just trying to figure out your logic.

 

Simple logic really. Dropping a tank means crawling underneath and dumping rust, dirt and possibly fuel all over your face. Wrestling with a half full tank like that can also be a pain if you can't get it to balance on a jack the right way.

Pull the bed off, and the tanks are right out in the open while you work standing up comfortably. You can pull off the sender and siphon out the fuel before trying to pull the tanks off (if needed).

 

Absolutely, I've dropped the tank nearly my entire life. Only a handful of years ago tried pulling the bed.
I will not be dropping tanks on a pickup again.

 

So why can't we use the gasser tank and fuel sending unit? On my 91 F250 I don't have the tank or sending unit and can't seem to find the sending unit anywhere! Thinking about modifications to the gasser to make it work for diesel

 

You need a sending unit that has the correct ohms to work for your year truck.


Click on the link, and go down to post# 45. the guy switched the wires around and resoldered them. Plus added a resistor to get the sender to work right.


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post17499789




Charlie

 

For a given generation of truck, gassers and diesels use the same resistance range of sending unit. (After all, they use the same fuel gauge.) It's when you mix generations that you have resistance challenges. In the linked thread above, the poster was trying to use an '87-later sending unit in an '86-earlier truck. This would have been the case no matter what fuel type. So a sending unit from the same generation of truck should work. The pickup assemblies are different, however, at least in the case of gassers that have in-tank fuel pumps.

 

That's what I thought... So seeing as I don't have a tank or sending unit (front tank) I think I can use both from the gas truck and modify the sender to use diesel... Whatever that requires, removing pump or modifying pick up etc... I can modify plugs, pumps, pickups etc... And even if I can't get the gauge to work at least I have a tank.