gas gauges quit working 88 F-150

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David Coleman - 10 May 2008 04:41 GMT

I have a 88 F-150, 4.9L 4-speed that has dual tanks. When I bought the
truck, the back gas gauge did not work, but the front one did.
After a while, the front one worked fine from full to about 1/2. Then it
started swinging from full to empty until it was really empty then stayed at
empty.
Any ideas as to what would cause this? With gas prices like they are, I am
currently only using the front tank and carry 2 gallons of gas in my tool
box, (dangerous I know, but I drive one area that is 20 miles between
stations).
I plan on pulling the bed off to get to the top of the tanks verses dropping
the tanks one by one...seems like less work

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scrape - 10 May 2008 04:54 GMT

>I have a 88 F-150, 4.9L 4-speed that has dual tanks. When I bought the
>truck, the back gas gauge did not work, but the front one did.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>I plan on pulling the bed off to get to the top of the tanks verses dropping
>the tanks one by one...seems like less work

It's the sender in the fuel tank. It's part of the in tank fuel
pump.

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Ken - 10 May 2008 11:52 GMT

> On Fri, 9 May 2008 22:41:36 -0500, "David Coleman"
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> It's the sender in the fuel tank. It's part of the in tank fuel
> pump.

Correct. The odds are that the failed tank was left empty for long
periods so the sender/fuel pump composted. There should be a warning
printed on the windscreen of every pre-1990 dual-tank F150 - 'Try to
keep both tanks full and NEVER leave either tank empty for protracted
periods'. If you do there is a fair chance that the tank (which, like
the other items, is metallic) will also be a write-off.

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