85 full size 5.8 auto. fuel gauge does not work so I pulled the tank out. There were no straps holding it up, only two on top and the skid plate under it. Please tell me this is not how it was done from the factory. And how do I check the gauge, jump wires and the guage should move, right? Thanks in advance..

 

My son's 85 bronco gauge wasn't working. I pulled the sending unit, and the float wasn't attached to the lever. It was a pain in the butt getting that float out. Ended up siphoning out the gas, then using a wet/dry vac to vacuum out the dirt in the tank--and the vac sucked up the float. We just put the float back in the lever. It fit so tight, I wonder how it ever came out. Bottom line is, cost to fix (other than time) was zero.

 

Lol my 85's gauge does not work either. Was this a common problem or something? How hard was it to drop the tank?

 

First before you drop the tank make sure that it is the sending unit so you don't do a bunch of work and find out that was not the problem .Get you a copy of the electrical prints for you year truck( most of the chain auto parts stores have them) find the color code for wires that go to the tank for your year truck,you need the wire that comes from the gage to the sending unit,there should be a connector close to the tank, pull this connector apart and with the key turned to acc/or on take a short length of wire ground the wire that is coming from the gage,if you have the right wire and every thing from here to the gage is right the gage will go to full,if it does not then your problem is in the wiring or your gage.Once you drop the tank and pull the sending unit look it over good and make sure that there is no mechanical problems .These sending units were bad about the float coming loose.
To check the sending unit out make sure it is grounded to the truck and with key on (truck not running)carefully move the float arm tru it's arc and watch the gage , if the other test was good you should not see any movement of gage.When you put the new sending unit in do these same tests to make sure you have fixed the problem.
And no I did not forget about removing the tank,yes the straps and bolts holding the skid plate in place is the way that the tank is mounted.
First pull the rubber hose from the gas filler neck and get most of the bolts out from the skid plate ,put a floor jack with a piece of ply wood under the tank ,remove all bolts and straps lower the tank wile gently shaking it ,make sure nothing else is hooked up except your electrical ,when you get it low enough remove the electrical plug and fuel lines and pull the tank from under the truck. Just reverse this process to put it back in.
I hope this helps

Good Luck

Kenny

Lost your job yet?
Keep buying foreign.
Ops....The truck manuels that the auto parts stores have are Haynes& Chlitons, Mitchells..E.T.C.

 

Got the sending unit out, the float had a flat blade screwdriver punch in it. ended up soldering it closed, floats fine. guage works great now.

 

I don't know if you need to drop the tank or not to pull out the sending unit. We were in the middle of a body/cab swap, so we did it comfortably from above with the body off. I'd guess there would be enough clearance to do it from below without dropping the tank, but that is only a guess.

Ours sure didn't have a screwdriver hole in it. The float was happily floating around on top of the gas. Even from above, it was a pain to find and retrieve, we had to siphon out all the gas, then was able to snag it with a shop vac. That's the part I'm not sure we'd been able to do from below without dropping the tank.

 

You do have to drop the tank in a Bronco or cut a hole in the back floor board ,which I have seen done.
I have fixed myself two trucks that the floats came off the arm and have been told by a Ford service writer that it is a common problem with these trucks.
On a side note the screwdriver hole in the float remedied me of a Bronco that I repaired many years ago when I was the used car mechanic for a new car dealership ,the truck had been repoed and the gas gage did not work,when I pulled it it had a nice perfect phillips head screwdriver hole in it .You could tell that the tank had been pulled recently. Somebody went to a lot of work to stick it to the dealership.


Kenny
Lost your job yet?
Keep buying foreign.

 

i was ave the same problem i chage the electrical plate in it the metal on the plate was finish i change it and it work juste fine now change the flot to he had a hole in it the wire is not the only thing you ave to chek abot the plate was in the plastique box on the sending unite