Hi guys, I have 2000 3.0 4x4 ranger. The fuel gauge appears to stuck in the past full position. I filled up last thursday and now I 75 miles on that tank of gas. It hasn't moved at all. I usually get about 240 miles to a tank. So at this mileage I should be somewheres around 3/4 of tank. Any ideas of whats going on thanks

 

i wish my gauge was stuck,insted of watching my gauge on empty all the time...lol

 

Your fuel sender unit could be shot, but I would imagine that would just show an empty tank. The fuel gauge itself should be shot.

 

First try a fuel cleaner. Like Chevron techron {ford uses this for this problem} It mightt be high sulfur. Try it abe 2 times. then if its not that i would check the wires to the sending unit. see if they are getting a voltage/ resistance from the sending unit.
Mostlikely its the sending unit. But the 2 jugs of Chevron Techron are alot less than a new sending unit.

 

Yeah...you'll need to remove the bed, disconnect the filler neck and the brake lights, then remove the lock ring on the top of the tank, and pull out the "guts". Check the gauge float for functionality before replacing it by working the arm up and down. If it binds or doesn't move, that's what's causing the mis-reading.

 

Do you have aftermarket gauges? A slight raise in the gauge face would cause the needle to bind up.

 

Ford fuel gauge senders (which have sucked forever by the way) usually fail and read empty because the connectors corrode out and break connection. An open circuit on the fuel sender will cause the gauge to read empty. A short on the fuel send wires will cause the gauge to read past full.

 

Thanks for all the info...But the truck finally craped out.. I was driving home from work on Wednesday night when I came through intersection and stalled. I turned the key a few times and tried to start it but I wouldn't.. It sounds if the pump is running. I had it tow by AAA to a local garage. AAA towing is the best no charge. A local tow company wanted 65.00 to tow.. So dont knowing else at this point.

 

Well my guess would be you ran out of gas because of the faulty gauge.

 

I dont think I ran out of gas because I filled up last thursday. I had approximently 100 miles on that tank according to the trip odometer..

 

What level of emt are you. I have a NYS basic emt since 97

 

Dude, You are insane. Just loosen the 2 straps and drop the tank. I waited until the tank was almost empty. No need to remove the bed. I changed my sending unit/ Pump in about 1.5 hours.

 

I did the same, I had to replace the fuel pump and filler neck. I dropped the drive-shaft and the rest was cake. Double check the hoses on your filler (just for safety), mine were rotten.

 

if you have multiple people around lifting the bed off is easier IF!! your truck lives in norther area and everything rusts... my bolt heads are rusted beyond removing... had the bed off in 5 min... personally i like taking the bed off its easy....

 

So I have taken the bed off this one truck six times, replaced fuel pump, replaced the float, replaced sending unit, changed relays, changed fuses, pt in a new cluster, changed the slosh module, made mods to slosh modules - and it's stuck at a little less than half a tank.

Tracked down wiring, but can not find a good wiring diagram with the colors, so I might have fixed something else in the truck with a broken wire. I have tested the float and got an OK from it - and still nada.

So... the next thing is to get uunder the truck and check the connector that bolts to the bottom of the seat and see if there is broken stuuff there. And then see about splicing in a fix there.

What else cold it be? This thing has driven me nuts for 2 years.

 

When you had the cluster out did you check the Yellow/white wire with OHM meter to ground

That's the wire from the sender, on 1989-2011 Rangers it should show 16ohms empty and 160 ohms full, so between 16 and 160 ohms
Then if you rock the truck the gasoline in the tank should slosh around making the float go up and down, so OHMs should also go up and down(unless tank is overfilled, lol)

The yellow/white wire on the cluster connector is direct to gas tank not effected by slosh module
If OHMs don't change when truck is rocked then yellow/white wire is bad or sender has no ground

The sender needs a good ground, there are 4 wires on the fuel pump assembly, 12v and ground for fuel pump are two
Other 2 wires are the yellow/white and ground for sender, sender can't work without a good ground

 

[QUOTE=RonD;2183464]When you had the cluster out did you check the Yellow/white wire with OHM meter to ground[QUOTE]

Son went to College had to fix a few things on the truck. But...

I took the thing apart and removed the slosh unit. No change at all. Buuuuutttt.....

I said - Hmmmf. Lets see what happens when...

So I unplugged the connector that feeds the fuel guage and it pagged over the Full Line with the new set of guages. When I put the connector back in (that is the connector from the dash to the console) it puts it back at full. Then when I stop the truck (RUN POSITION) and turn it back to RUN it throttles back to Half a tank. It is definately odd.

If I can find my meter, Ill stick it in there.

 

The Ground for the Sender is Black/Orange. So I took that and grounded it to the frame, but still no bueno.

 

I took the plug out of the center connector on the instrument cluster and low and behold, the fuel gauge started working. When I plug it back it poof, right back to half.

 

What YEAR is the Ranger?

 

She is a 2000 with a V in the VIn. I have both clusters on my table right now testing resistors and grounds. I have one more to hit. All of them test out OK.

 

2000 cluster diagram below

The yellow/white wire on pin 12 of center connector should read 16-160 OHMs to ground
16 = empty tank
160 = full tank

The ground for the sender in the tank is spliced to a ground for the cluster, pin 2 on the same center connector
So test yellow wire to local ground first, a dash ground, say you get 70 ohms( 1/2 tank or so)
Then test it to the pin 2 ground should be exactly the same

 

Well I found it. The chassis connector under the driver side seat started to go. So I spliced into the wire about 3 inches down and put it up into the cab about 3 inches and then tested and re-tested, Once jumpered, I put it all back together and took it to the gas station. Bingo. Worked.

So that connector at the bottom gets alot of abuse from everthing and I am surprised that it don't fail in 5 years let alone 21 years.

Thanks Ron! You pointed me in the right direction and told me the just the right info to figure it out. You get the gold star this week.

 

Good work

And thanks