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1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Early Eighties Bullnose Ford Truck

fuel gauge not working

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Old Apr 28, 2014 | 10:57 PM
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From: hood river OR
fuel gauge not working

i have a 1985 ford f250 with a 7.5L and someone put in aftermarket gauges and now the fuel gauge doesn't work. I've tested the wiring and followed it the best i could and even replaced a few wires and still nothing. what coulod it be? might I mention the connector at the fuel tanks selector valve looks partially melted.
 
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Old Apr 29, 2014 | 08:39 AM
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Take the wire off the sending unit and ground it with the key on. The fuel gauge should head to Full. If it does you have a sending unit problem, which is very common. If it doesn't you will have to do more sleuthing.

Do the oil pressure and water temp gauges work? They are fed by the same "voltage regulator" as the fuel gauge, so if they work the regulator is working. If not it could be the problem.

Oh yes - do you have dual tanks? If so there's a switch on the right side of the heat/air control panel that switches between tanks and switches the gauge from one to the other. It is a good place to check the wiring.
 
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Old Apr 29, 2014 | 11:06 AM
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It has duel tanks and the two gauges you mentioned are working but while I was looking at the selector valve it has an electric fuel pump that goes tothe rear tank and the manual fuel pump isn't connected at all like someone tried to make it to run off of the rear tank only
 
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Old Apr 29, 2014 | 11:13 AM
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It is fairly common for only one tank to be in service. And adding an electric pump has been done. But, some of the 460's came with electric pumps and no manual pump. So it is possible that the electric pump is original and the engine was swapped in.

Anyway, it sounds like some changes have been made and that may well explain why the gauge doesn't work. Still, you need to start by shorting the wire going to the sender to ground and see what happens.
 
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Old Apr 29, 2014 | 11:35 AM
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Ok I'll try that and see what happens. Any idea on what color the wire might be?
 
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Old Apr 29, 2014 | 11:45 AM
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The front tank's wire should be dark blue with a yellow tracer, and the rear should be yellow with a light blue tracer.

If it doesn't work at the tank then come to the switch in the cab. You'll see those two wires coming off of the switch going to the senders, and there should be a yellow with a white tracer on the switch as well. That's the one coming from the gauge and you can ground it and the gauge should swing to Full.
 
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Old Apr 30, 2014 | 09:38 PM
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so I pulled out the rear sending unit ad it was all rusty! so I was curious if the rear tank sending unit and front tank sending unit are interchangeable so I can have a working unit until I could get a new one?
 
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Old Apr 30, 2014 | 09:55 PM
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No, they're not.
 
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Old Apr 30, 2014 | 10:34 PM
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That's probably the problem. But finding a good replacement isn't easy nor cheap.
 
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