Hi there,

I've got a 2003 F250, SD, 5.4L Triton that I've owned since new. It has 205,000 kms on it and has run flawlessly since owning it.

Yesterday I went to use the truck after it sitting for about 2 weeks, which isn't uncommon for this time of year as I'm in the landscaping business. It never sits long, though as I make a point of using all the trucks, periodically, just to "blow the stink off" as my Dad would say.

Anyway, when I fired it up the gauge was drop-dead below "E" so I go to fill it up and it takes about $15.00 in fuel and it won't take a drop more. I got under the truck and knocked on the tank in various spots and the tank seems almost plum
full.

When I power the truck off and back on, all the gauges come to life and settle on their appropriate readings, except for the fuel gauge. It powers up to full and then drops to below "E" as though I had turned the truck off again.

My question is, am I reasonably safe to assume my sending unit has bitten the dust? I figured that since the gauge comes to life upon startup and then drops to "E" after the rest of the gauges initialize, the fuel gauge itself probably isn't the problem?

Is there a chance that as I drive it over the next few days, and the tank empties, maybe the "sloshing" of fuel might dislodge a stuck part?

Any thoughts and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading my thread!

 

Ford use to have a "module" on the back of the instrument cluster in the older analog dash that dampened the fuel gauge so you didn't get the "sloshing effects" on the fuel gauge. How they accomplish this now, I have no idea. See if you can send CircuitBoardMedics a pm and ask them. Not sure how often they visit the forum here. They have done some IPC exchange and programming on the PowerStroke.org forum.

Ford 11-16 6.7L Powerstroke Forums - Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum

 

It's the sending unit. not anything else.

 

Just to bookend this thread, I thought I'd update that my fuel gauge came back about a week ago.

I've never used any sort of fuel system treatment in this truck before so thought I'd give it a try, based on opinions from other online sources.

I believe it was an STP fuel system treatment and it recommends adding 1 bottle of it to the gas tank with each oil change.

Anyway, I added a bottle of it the day after posted this thread and about a week ago, my fuel gauge started giving me readings. It seemed to come back slowly, but after a couple of days it was giving me readings that seemed to be consistent with how it operated before.
I topped of the fuel and have run 1 1/2 tanks of fuel in it since then and all seems well again.

I'm not sure if the treatment actually cleaned some deposits on the sending unit in the fuel tank, but I'm not questioning it.

I guess I should continue to add fuel system treatment to tank with every oil change, as the bottle recommends?

Thanks for the replies to my original question. Be well!