86 K5 Blazer:
Gas gauge fluctuates, is erratic and no longer provides a good reading on the fuel in the tank. I am assuming that it's not the gauge but the sending unit. Has anyone had this problem on their 86? If so, how difficult was it to replace the faulty sending unit? My truck has a 30 gallon tank. Where did you purchase your new unit? Thanks in advance....

Bill

 

I'd suggest cleaning the contacts and grounds first and see if that fixes it before you throw parts at it. Any parts store will be able to order the sending unit. Unless your lucky its normally not an item they stock in store.

 

As a routine matter, I'll be checking for a faulty ground somewhere. The erratic needle play has been that way for a dozen year or more. It's now totally unreliable.

I've never dropped a gas tank before, so that will be an experience Anyone done that on a K5 before? Any tips would be helpful.

Thanks,
Bill

 

k5s are basically pretty easy but plenty of factors come into play, in theory you just support the tank with a jack, take off the straps, lower it a bit and take off the hoses and remove the tank. but the hoses are probably dry rotted and need to be replaced, straps might not come off or break, if you have a carb and they are just hose clamped i usually just cut the hoses and replace them anyways.

another few factors that come into play is if you have a skid guard and a hitch. sometimes the hitch gets in the way of taking the skid guard off and that just ads hours of work. if your truck isnt in the best of shape you can just cut a access hole in the tank and get at it that way. thats how ive always done it on my offroad trucks.