Hi, I own a 1990 ford bronco (351 V8). About 1 month ago my gas gauge stopped working. The gas gauge is stuck on empty. When I turn the truck off the gas gauge will go to 1/4 of a tank. It will do that whether or not the tank is full or empty. When the truck is turned on it goes back to empty. All the other lights and gauges in my truck work. I was suspecting the problem to be the sending unit. If that's what it is how much do they cost. Is it hard to change? I hope it is something simple. Like a ground or something

PLease HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

There are multiple posts on repair of this issue, try a search. I did have this problem once but my Bronco was still under warrenty. Cost to fix it was quoted at $550 when I took it to the dealership. Thanks to my warrenty, I only had to pay $50.

 

IMHO it does sounds like you need new sending unit. Fords seem to go thru sending unit quite a bit (I've replace them in about five of my trucks over the years). It is kind of a hassle to fix this cause the sending unit is in the gas tank, also if yours is a fuel pump/sending unit it can cost anywhere from $100.00 to $250.00. I got mine with a pump from carparts.com with a discount coupon for about $135.00. Saw a new site for parts might be cheaper http://www.rockauto.com/ . 1st you need to drive the truck till the tank is near empty (this makes removal a lot easier)I put mine up on jack stands as high as they could go. I have heavy duty stands so I got good lift you could drive the truck backwards up car ramps too. There are several bolts hold the skid plate and tank in remove most of them leaving one on either side in but loosened you will then need to crawl under the truck and reach on top of the tank to disconnect the fuel lines and the power to the sending unit (and pump if you have a pump in the tank not sure on your year most likely you do though) you also need to disconnect the fuel filler hose from the tank at this time too. Now place a floor jack under the tank to hold it remove the rest of the bolts and lower the tank (be careful tank does want to move around because of leftover fuel the more you leave in it the more it will move on you good idea to have a friend around to help on this project). You can see on top of the tank the sending unit remove the lock ring and pull out the unit slowly being careful not to catch it on the tank. To install just reverse the procedure being very careful putting the new unit in. WORD OF CAUTION THIS CAN BE A DANGEROUS JOB YOU ARE DEALING WITH GAS IN AN ENCLOSED CONTAINER SO BE CAREFUL!!! This was just a warning not trying to be a smarta** just wanted you to be aware. One tip I saw that someone else did was to cut an access hole in the floor of the Bronco with the tank out so you can get to the sending unit with out dropping the tank any more, just find a junk bronco and cut out a bigger piece of floor to cover what you cut out. Someone else might have some other advice so don't just listen to me, Good Luck and if you have any other questions just ask,

Rick
86 302 EFI, bored 60 over, AOD,
Headman Headers, Flowmaster 40 series,
2 inch dual exhaust, MSD ignition

 

thanks pilotrick i will probably have my mechanic do it for me. hopefully i will get it done this weekend! Thanks for your ideas.

 

I have the same problem on my '65 Mustang. Luckily, you can get to that sending unit from underneath without removing the tank. The tricky part about driving around until you are almost empty, is that with a bad sending unit, you don't really know when that is. One trick my mechanic told me was to carry around a can with a gallon of gas in it, then just drive aound town normally until you run out of gas. Put in the gallon to get you home or to the shop, then you know that there isn't much gas in the tank to worry about.

 

It could also be the gauge. I have experienced gauges going bad as well. It's a quicker and cheaper fix. I got the new gauge piece (not the entire instrument cluster) from the junkyard for $10.