Fuel Gauge Problem

The fuel gauge is reading beyond full when in fact it was about 1/4 full. I have since filled up and driven several miles. Is it possible that a fuse could be the problem or am I looking at having the fuel gauge replaced?

Reply to
david.quillen
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Your sending unit in the tank is bad. I drive one of my ford trucks by mileage on the trip meter, because I don't want to drop $170 x 2 for the parts only at the Ford dealer....

Reply to
351CJ

My 2002 Explorer XLT fuel gauge sticks periodically. It is not in a particular spot. Sometimes after a fillup, it will stay at full for days. Other times in the middle. And other times near MT, even for a couple of days after fillup. I heard that the cost of repair was rather steep, so we just hit the trip reset after every fillup, just in case.

Reply to
coop999

I vaguely recall a TSB or recall for high sulphur content in gasoline hurting sending units. Our Ford tech website is down for it's weekly housekeeping so I can't say for sure. Bear in mind that, on some models, refuelling with the motor running can "cook your nines" (apologies to Steve Martin in "The Man With Two Brains").... aside from the fact that it is foolish anyway.

Your local dealer can run OASIS (using the correct symptom code) to see if your car is amongst the affected units.

Reply to
Jim Warman

Correct - the sulfur corrodes the silver contacts in the fuel tank. Sometime in the past year, there was a major gas recall in the southeast because a refinery was producing gasoline with a sulfur level that was way too high, and it was ruining fuel gauges.

-Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Trojanowski

Thanks to everyone for the info. Short of letting the thing run out of gas (which I am sure is not a good thing, notr is it something I would like to do) how can I tell how much fuel my fuel tank holds? It is a '99 Sport.

Reply to
Davidq

Thanks...I'll have them check it out.

Reply to
coop999

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