ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

85GT^^ is correct.... The "Gas gauge" issues usually seem to be a rotted out or just simply stuck up/misread, etc. HOWEVER, I've read lots of these complaints, where it says, "It's on 'FULL' for 80 miles, then starts to drop and I get maybe 100 from the rest of the tank, til on empty.... then it goes for 50 miles on empty".... And while reading lots of these complaints, I don't remember reading much on "DROPS OFF", as in 'LITERALLY' drops off and then maybe picks back up, like a short. So you NEVER can tell, 100%... it MIGHT be the gauge.... It would depend on how much fuel is actually IN the tank. Is it COMPLETELY full and STILL dropping off intermittently? Sounds more like the gauge if so... But if if it's reading full for a long while... then suddenly dropping off, NOT coming back up or reading 'FULL' when it's actually empty..... well, like 85GT said... "Probably time to pull that unit".

85GT.... I have an 87 4Runner, and while the Fuel PUMP is accessible under the back seat/pass. side.... I don't think the fuel level sending unit is so much.

For some reason, too..... the Sending unit seems to become FAR MORE inundated with RUST FROM HELL! Maybe because it's closer to a WALL of the tank? NO CLUE.... I just know it breaks/sticks quite often, EZ.... sorry to say. BTW, LOOK AT TERRYS_87 's build thread(OK, yes, which one? lol....HMmmm, I think it's the 87 build he's doing... He is RIGHT NOW dealing with a totally corroded sending unit/pump assembly/tank is filthy............ he's cleaned out these tanks like 6913 times! haha. He would be like "The Great Oz" on this one hahahaha..."All the answers, just in time!" lol.....

Best wishes, EZ.... and also... I slathered a nice thin bead of dielectric grease across the tape wires of all the cluster connectors... it seemed to really help with the intermittent Temp Gauge Fluctuation on the cluster itself.

PS> Do you happen to have an old Temp Gauge laying around? Maybe even a Harbor Freight near by with a 7$ one? haha... Hook it up to that sensor on the intake and VOILA... you know if it's the sensor or cluster gauge(or maybe wiring therein between, right?)

ezucker

I'm trying to find the sensor so I can clean it... can someone help me identify the sensor? I know its somewhere on the intake but the picture in the fsm is just not all that clear... Do you see it in the below pictures? Never pulled one of these out before so I'm just not 100% sure what I'm doing, but I know it's not complicated once I identify it.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Not a single shot of where it's located(at least on mine) in those shots you put up, lol.... I HEAR YA, it's like "Spaghetti Soup" in there, at times, eh?

Lemme look through my pics... I'll show ya where mine is...... k?

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

PS> For now, without the pic.... It's IN THE MIDDLE of the 2 pairs of Intake Tubes, RIGHT OFF the head, on the lower intake, facing upward.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

See in the top of this pic, the threaded hole between the upper two mounting bolt holes that go into the head? THAT'S IT! >>>>>

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

The wrap around water pipe with the rubber 0-ring gasket inside goes up into the bottom of that thing... So it's measuring coolant that's made it through the engine, including water jackets, timing cover, heater core, etc., right?

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

You can see it in this pic, still installed in my intake when I first tore down the FIRST rebuild, lol..... Center of intake, head-side, right near where it would meet the head.......

ezucker

The bolt in the middle with the small black box next to it?

ezucker

ezucker

Is it this?

ezucker

Or this?

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

EZ.... I think you missed all my posts last page... Check it out, k?

ezucker

You're right, I did. Oops. So just to confirm, its the last photo I posted circled in the pink, right?

ChefT, nice looking work table by the way. I wish I had one of those...

My99

No. Went and snapped one off mine. It's the orange colored doohicky down there...



For context, here's a little further "up" It's between the "EFI" throttle body intake and the valve cover/head. It's obviously closer to the valve cover/head.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

NOPE, .... that's the "Thermo-Temp-Time-Switch",....that piece IS on the lower intake, but it's on top of the Thermostat housing, right? NOPE< that's not it.... Look again at the pics I posted... See the LOWER intake? that's it... You CAN reach down in there and make sure it's connected well... Maybe clean it up even... Then look at the end of the connector, see if it's all corroded in there and maybe if it needs a good pinching tighter(CAREFUL, it is old and many hot cycles later for that plastic... it CAN be brittle, but most likely would be ok with a lil pinching down on the connector so it will grab the sending unit connection better, ya know?) The sending unit that I posted/was speaking of, it's not visible with your Plenum(Upper intake) on... You have to look down in the middle with a light and get a good look, k?

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

YEP, ...and just like mine, it's 'A BLUE CONNECTOR'! hahaha.

ezucker

Okay I see what you guys are talking about, but damn I can barely get my hand in there.

ezucker

By the way I think cleaning the screws on the back of the cluster may have fixed my gas gauge issue.

ezucker

Thanks for the pictures, they were very helpful. So....

I think this is the spot that it should be. And from what I can see, there's nothing hooked up to it, or the sensor itself is just plain missing?

Am I crazy?

ezucker

It's tough to see in the picture because I've lost most daylight, but it looks like a bolt with a small tab of metal sticking up out of the top. That tab has a small hole through it, as if you were supposed to thread a wire through it or something, but there is nothing in it...

I'll take better pictures in daylight tomorrow, but I think that's it and there's nothing hooked up to it, which I suppose would explain why my gauge is not working!