I was doing an axle swap on my 82 Toyota pickup so it wasn't driven for about 4 months. The fuel gauge that worked before now shows "empty" even though there is 6 gallons of gas in the tank. The fuse is good. Could someone share the steps on how to diagnose this please?

Thank you.

 

Located the wires that's connected to the fuel sender unit. Ground it out and see if gauge moves. If gauge moves then sender is bad. If gauge don't move you have a wiring issue.

If grounding it out doesn't move gauge try adding bolts to it. One or the other makes it move. Can't quiet remember which

 

Is the sender unit located inside of the gas tank? Also, could it be that not being used all those months has made the level thingee inside the tank stuck?

 

I need to do this on my 78. Gas gauge works when full, then somewhere around 3/4 of a tank it drops to empty.

 

Yes the sender is located inside the tank. Looking at top of fuel tank you should see 2 pods. One with fuel lines other with electrical wires. The electrical one Is the fuel sender. And yes setting is bad for fuel systems entirely

 

Mine was rusted up pretty badly and seized on Empty. I took the sending unit out of the tank, cleaned it up really good with a wire brush, re-installed it and it worked perfectly.

 

My sender was glued at half by evaporated fuel gunk when I bought my truck. A couple tankfulls with Seafoam added loosened it up right away.
If your truck has sat for a while, you could have a similar situation.

 

Here is how I cleaned/fixed mine. Just need to get the pivot point area cleaned up.
The other day I was working on getting my fuel level sending unit freed up. I use a rust dissolver on it and a wire tooth brush. It moves freely now.

This stuff works great.


Float level I was working on, this is most likely your problem if fuel guage isnt working. Easy fix, once you get the bed off or on a runner, you have to drop the tank as it is located behind the acess panel.

 

Does the "sender" pivot inside the gas tank kind of like the float in a toilet tank? And should I assume that the pivot point is at the top of the gas tank? Once the tank is removed, how easy or difficult is it to remove?

Thanks

 

Just below my thumb. It is inside the gas tank. You can see the piviot pin on the righ hand side of the two rods. This is for a fuel injected motor but the floats are nearly the same.

 

I don't understand what you mean when you said to try adding bolts to it?

Can I remove the sender without having to remove the gas thats in the tank?

Thanks again.