My fuel gauge consistently reads wrong. It's not that it's not reading at all, or that it's stuck. When the truck has NO fuel in it, it reads a little under 3/8 tank, and when the tank is full, it's pegged past full. It moves accordingly. I've already replaced the cluster (with a '93, MUCH cleaner and easier to read after dark) and the new one does the same thing, so I'm leaning towards an electrics problem. Is it possible to just replace the sender and not the entire fuel pump?

 

I recently replace my fuel pump along with sending unit part recently.

Them on a 50 mile one way trip of which I had only about 50 miles on a tank of fuel when starting out it dropped below 1/2 a tank on my return trip, I was thinking, I'm sure using to much gas, them the nest think I know its down to nearly 1/4 tank. So I stopped to fill up, it took 10 gallons, so I really had 10 gallons, half a tank, yet it the gage was setting on 1/4 tank.

I recall not long after I bought this S10 new in 92 the wife and I had made a trip and was coming to the last gas station before getting to our house and I just happened to look down at the gas gage, it was setting on empty, as I entered the driveway of the conveniences then pulled up to the gas pump it dies before I turned the key off, it held 20 gallons.

I fear running it that low now that its about 19 years old. I usually set the trip odometer them fill up at about 200 miles and or half a tank for most weeks I will not drive it over about 50 to 60 miles and I like for it to stay close to full to cut down on moisture in the gas tank. When fuel gages gets older I believe they lose their accuracy.

 

This is totally not the same as my problem. Mine's reading consistently, but it's like the gauge thinks there's about 3/8 of a tank buffer zone before the truck putters and runs out.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to offend you, yet its about a fuel gage reading wrong in a Chevy Blazer, isn't it?

 

I didn't take offense, it just doesn't seem like your problem is the same as mine. Yours reads low (which I'd be ecstatic if mine did, because E would really be 1/4 tank, a good buffer zone anyway). Mine reads high (which sucks, because remembering that 3/8 tank is really empty is a pain sometimes).

Sorry if I came off like I was mad.

 

The only thing you can do is just drop the tank and put in a new sender, I think you can just get the sender if thats the only part you need, although dropping the tank is such a pain that I would just replace the pump while your at it. Just use the trip on your odomiter and fill up about every 200 - 220 miles (or just add the gallons up at about 16 miles per gallon if you can't fill it all the way) mine runs out at 260 miles on a full tank, but I don't recommend pushing your luck cost me a tow and it killed my last pump running it empty.

good luck.

 

And them his, like mine after putting a new pump along with new sending unit, may show it having 5 gallons, 1/4 tank of gas, when in reality it had 10 gallons, 1/2 a tank of gas.

So in reality, perhaps mine is not that much different than his.

I might add, the one I just took out, measured the gas in my tank quite accurately, I had hoped that changing the whole thing would keep it accurate. So much for that!

 

There's two problems with this idea: The trip meter doesn't work (at all), and the odometer is wrong. Partly because i've replaced the cluster with a '93 model, and partly because the speedometer is also wrong. 220 miles according to my odometer is really (depending on speed) as much as 40 miles less than that. I'm gonna get a GPS unit as a late christmas present, so I'll know exactly how fast I'm traveling, but at what the speedo claims to be 50, I'm really going 40. It's because there's been a driveline swap, and noone bothered to reprogram the computer, but damned if I know where it is/if my '89 truck has one.

 

There are speedometer shops that can reset yours so that its correct. I've never had that done yet I know a few people have. A few of these said the cost was reasonable.

 

to drag up a dead thread: my heater core blew yesterday, so I was under the dash trying to extricate it. I found my DRAC module. Burned the hell out of my fingers reprogramming it, but it *should* read 40 at 40 now. Or at least be closer. Presuming I wired it right and didn't screw up the contacts beyond recognition.