Hey everyone, new to this page but not forums so I don't know how everyone is. I'll preface this by saying yes, I did try the search bar and couldn't find anything that really lined up with what I'm trying to figure out. Recently purchased a 2000 Ex v10 with about 120,00miles. Now the problem, I'm certain my fuel gauge is wrong but don't even know where to start with diagnosing and fixing it. EVERYTHING I read says that all ex's came with a 44gallon tank, yet the most I've ever put in this thing was about 26 gallons. I hit the red line a couple weeks ago and the over head unit say 6 miles to empty. (Yeah I was a little nervous haha) ran to the gas station and put in $100. (The pumps here auto shut off at $75 and them I did another go around) gas here is $2.89 so with that math I put about 34 gallons in. The people I bought it off didn't strike me as the kind of people that would swap gas tanks. They where more of the take it to jiffy lube every 3,000 miles kinda people. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

If you have an Excursion, you have a 44 gallon tank. It is the internals to the tank that are different. Diesels got one set of internals, and gassers got another. It is likely your float in the tank is off or the related circuitry.

 

1. Your tank is 44 gallons

2. Overhead lie-o-meter is notoriously unrealizable and larger tires make it even worse. So stick to the dash cluster gauge.

3. When you recently put 34 gallons in what did the gauge read ?

 

i know how it feels to fill up these things when your not sure of its limits yet i had mine at the red line and filled mine to max meaning to the point the fill nozzle would shut off due to back pressure being right at the filler neck and it only took 160$ Canadian and this was roughly a week ago i filled it and my roof mounted display says 600 till empty but its best to not take what it shows for truth fuel gauges are far more trusting then that. only way to really figure it out is go through a fuel full tanks and record your millage from each refill and ignore the roof mounted fuel estamater it will leave you stranded some day

 

When I put the 34 gallons in I believe it read full. It was a while ago. It wasn't past the top line.

 

Fill your tank until no more fuel will flow into the tank and the stations pump keeps turning off. Now check your gauge.

Write down your odometers mileagle and every 100 miles make a notation of the fuel gauge. More then likely it will read 1/2 a tank when you approach 250 miles and nearly empty as you get to 550-575

Next, fill your tank to the tippy top and calculate you fuel mileage by dividing the mileage you traveled since the last fill up by the number of gallons it took to fill the tank completely.

If you want to see how accurate your overhead meter is make sure you RESET it when you fill up.

 

The lie-o-meter uses the "fuel level" (just like the fuel level gauge) to estimate the miles to empty (MTE).

After you fill-up, what does your MTE display say? It be interesting to know if it's 450-550 miles (about 10-12 MPG with 44 gallons)?
You should also "reset" your overhead after each fill-up (push both buttons until is clears) so you are getting information about
your current tank vs. the lifetime of the truck (or at least last time batteries were disconnected).

Either:
A) you have a clogged fuel tank vent - which prevents you from filling the tank all the way (because the air can't escape to allow more fuel in)
B) your fuel float is messed up, and you have 10 more gallons in the tank when it gets to Empty

You could, carry around a 5 gallon gas can, and drive until you run out of gas, and you'll know the tank is now empty - how long was the gas gauge on Empty before you run out?

IF you have an OBD2 gauge (or bluetooth and an APP for your phone) you can obtain the fuel-level reading from the computer (and be able to see what happens after you fill-up).

The fuel level senders just work by the level in the tank (no idea if it's inside a 20 or 100 gallon tank). The MTE display, uses the size of the tank with % full and your average MPG to estimate the distance you can drive before running out of gas.

 

Did you fill it until you saw the fuel in the filler neck just below the opening?

Stewart