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Old Oct 17, 2005 | 12:41 PM
  #1  
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From: Lake Havasu City, AZ
Fuel Guage Issue

I have a 99 F-250 V10 with 90K. My fuel gauge just recently quit working and is reading a fuel tank constantly when my truck is running, then goes to empty when ignition is off. Every so often the gauge will move off full but not much and then goes back to showing a full tank when I'm below a half tank of gas. Anyone know what I could do to fix this problem? If I can't fix it I'll have to take my truck in. I'd appreicate any feedback thanks.
 
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Old Oct 17, 2005 | 12:49 PM
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It sounds like it could be either a) a faulty ground wire or b) a faulty sending unit. I would check for a ground problem first and then go from there, if the sending unit is bad, you'll have to pull the fuel tank or the truck bed to replace it.
 
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Old Oct 17, 2005 | 12:51 PM
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ok where is the ground wire located at? you know?
 
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Old Oct 17, 2005 | 01:10 PM
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there should be a ground wire coming from the sending unit on top of the fuel tank, probably in a wire harness, follow it to the location that it grounds to on the chassis, check for bare wires, rusted wires, crappy connection at the sending unit itself or at the ground at the chassis. Is this an intermitting problem, or does it happen all the time?
 
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Old Oct 17, 2005 | 01:16 PM
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From: Lake Havasu City, AZ
Originally Posted by michaelmueller
there should be a ground wire coming from the sending unit on top of the fuel tank, probably in a wire harness, follow it to the location that it grounds to on the chassis, check for bare wires, rusted wires, crappy connection at the sending unit itself or at the ground at the chassis. Is this an intermitting problem, or does it happen all the time?

99% of the time the gauge doesn't work and is reading a full tank when the ignition is on or the truck is running. Every so often the needle will move off of full ever so little but then just returns to full in a matter of minutes.
 
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Old Oct 17, 2005 | 01:43 PM
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There are definetly more knowledgeable people on this site than me, but i'm sticking with my original diagnosis. Bring her up to Michigan and I'll fix her for ya, we'll even have a couple a beers.
 
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Old Oct 25, 2005 | 04:25 AM
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well disconnecting the battery didn't fix it. I took it to my dealer today and they told me it needs a new fuel sending/fuel pump unit and they will have to drop the tank. Should have it all fixed in a few days. We'll see what happens.
 
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Old Oct 26, 2005 | 02:40 AM
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well they quoted me $350.00 for the fuel pump/sending unit. My warrenty doesn't cover the sending unit but it the fuel pump was bad it would. I'm very upset about this whole thing.
 
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Old Oct 26, 2005 | 11:01 AM
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I feel for ya...

Check the wiring and connections first...

However, $350 is a decent price for a fuel-pump replacement...
 
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Old Oct 26, 2005 | 10:10 PM
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You can do the removal and replacment in less the 1.5 hours if you want to just buy the new pump and sender... not hard at all on these trucks if you be sure to have very little fuel in it.
 
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Old Oct 26, 2005 | 11:17 PM
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Like Fred said, this isn't a hard job. I have to do it every two years or so on my 88 f150, either one tank or the other goes bad. Ford had a problem with these units back then. Although it sounds like the dealer has it now so I guess I'm a bit late.

Good Luck!
 
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Old Oct 27, 2005 | 07:52 PM
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My '99 was stuck on full also. It turns out that the float design allowed the diamond shaped float to rotate as it moved up. When completely full, the float was up against the twist off cap and stuck on top of the inner lip. Turns out that Ford found out this problem and redesigned their float to not rotate. You CAN buy just a sending unit from aftermarket. My fuel pump went out just after my local garage replaced the sending unit (when we had the bed off) and then ford replaced it with the $200 sending unit/fuel pump. I'd say that if you have over 100,000 miles on the truck let them replace the fuel pump along with the sending unit. If under 100,000, then maybe get an aftermarket unit and takle it yourself.

Tony
 
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Old Oct 28, 2005 | 02:30 AM
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Originally Posted by Tony G
My '99 was stuck on full also. It turns out that the float design allowed the diamond shaped float to rotate as it moved up. When completely full, the float was up against the twist off cap and stuck on top of the inner lip. Turns out that Ford found out this problem and redesigned their float to not rotate. You CAN buy just a sending unit from aftermarket. My fuel pump went out just after my local garage replaced the sending unit (when we had the bed off) and then ford replaced it with the $200 sending unit/fuel pump. I'd say that if you have over 100,000 miles on the truck let them replace the fuel pump along with the sending unit. If under 100,000, then maybe get an aftermarket unit and takle it yourself.

Tony
that's what happened I ended up filling up the tank completely even when the truck was at a slant and it let more fuel go in the tank than on level ground, that's when this whole thing started. After that fill up. My super duty has 90,000 miles.
 
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