Kim has an 88 Toyota pickup truck, and the guage has been really off. It keeps reading low despite plenty of gas. He suspected the sender was at fault, so he dropped the tank and replaced it with one from ebay. However it still reads off. There was a worn spot on the original float that exposed the inner foam core. Is it possible there's an obstruction in the tank? He said the part #s were the same but 1 digit off, but it was listed as the one for his truck. The ohm reading for the new one is 5.1 - 116.3. He wasn't able to get a reading off the old one. Is this within range? If so where should he look? The wiring to the dashboard? The gauge? Is the gauge replaceable if its bad, or does the whole dash have to be replaced? Is there a shop in Los Angeles that rebuilds the dashboards? Or somewhere else?

Any suggestions? Thanks for your help. it's been driving him nuts.

G & Kim

 

The sender was far and away the most common failure.
Too bad it's all bolted back in. you could have plugged the sender into the harness and moved the arm back and forth to see what happens on the gauge.
I'd get the model number off the plate on the firewall and confirm the part number first. There easily could be a dozen different sending units, just depends on the truck config. and what cluster gauge it got. Amayama.com or EPC-data.com will be a good source for part numbers. Info from eBay sellers is very often wrong. I get very little from there unless I've done my own research.

 

I had a low temp gauge reading and read about cleaning the contacts and connectors inside the gauge housing. Was easy to remove the case to get to the electrical components. Might want to check for bad oxidation/corrosion/crud. Get some electronic contact spray cleaner (Walmart use to sell it) as it dries without leaving any residue. If not,use Mass Air Flow cleaner. Be careful as some of the wires are very thin.

I had crud/corrosion that cleaned up well. I did all the contacts while I was in there. I'd try that before sending off to be repaired. If not, then you eliminated a source with a cheap and easy fix. 36 year old vehicles can get crusty.

Good luck