How do you fix a gas gauge that doesn't work?

Question

Running out of gas is no fun. I drive a 1984 Dodge ramcharger, 2WD, and 318 engine.

Answer 1

take the gas tank out and replace the float and check the wiring

Answer 2

Usually, it's the sending unit in the tank that's bad but it could be the dash gauge or a bad ground or bad circuit also. Try to find the wiring at the fuel tank and unplug it, there might be two wires...a power and a ground or just one power wire. If you ground the power wire, the gauge should go to full reading---if not, it's a bad gauge. If it does read full, then the tank unit is bad or the ground is bad. Plug the wires back together and try to locate where the ground wire attaches to the body...clean the area where it is screwed into, reattach the ground somewhere else or run a wire back to the battery negative post and retest. If changing the ground or cleaning the contact area does not correct the problem, the tank unit is bad and needs to be replaced. I once had a car like this and all I did was fill up the tank and reset the odometer...then I would calculate how far I could drive with my average or lowest fuel economy and make sure I filled up before I reached that point. Worked for 8 months and I got rid of the car....I was pretty cheap back then. If you do the same thing, never let it get lower than a quarter tank.

Answer 3

need to figure out if it is gauge, wire to tank or sending unit in tank, I would check wire first, if the wire is good , grounding it should make the gauge read full, also there might be a fuse for that

Answer 4

i had a similar problem with an old chevy truck. i just ran a wire from the tank (there is a connector there) to the back of my gauge and ran a splitter to the positive cable on the battery and it worked!