87 Ranger 2.3L manual.

Hey everyone, I picked up this old '87 for $300 and there's a green based relay sticking out from under the steering wheel. It has no relay in it and I'm wondering what it powers? I'm guessing it might have to do with the turn signals as they're not operating correctly.

Additionally, the fuel guage is stuck in empty. I know these first gens are notorious for float problems. How would I go about diagnosing the issue to see if it's electrical or if it's the float?

Thanks for the help!

 

In 1987 the Flasher for turn signals is in the cab fuse box, the round thing, 4-way flasher is on the BACK side of that fuse box, same model flasher
Turn signal flashers up thru 1992 are 2 wire

Green base relay in cab, ???, not a clue

Up to 1989 Ford used these OHMs for fuel gauge
73 ohms Empty
10 ohms Full

Higher ohms(Empty) can mean disconnected wire or sunken float
Could also be fail cluster or power supply in cluster
So not simple to diagnose
Pick an end.......................i.e. start at the gas tank end or cluster
Slide bed back and test wiring on tank with OHM meter, yellow/white wire is the wire that runs to the cluster/gauge, it has its own Ground wire, test it as well, if there is gas in the tank you will see 10 to 73 OHMs, if you rock the truck gas should slosh around and you will see OHMS change as float goes up and down

Pull out the cluster
Find the yellow/white wire on the unplugged connector, test it the same way, 10-73 ohms, rock the truck

 

Thanks for the info, Ron. I mistakenly stated that the relay is GREEN but it is actually BROWN. I fixed the turn signals, turns out the previous owner just had the tail lights lights unplugged.

What would this brown-based relay do?

 

There is no color code for cab relays that I have ever seen

Engine bay relay bases do have a color code
Green is Fuel Pump relay
Brown is EEC/PCM relay
Black is AC/WOT relay

But nothing like that exists for relays in the cab