New Gauge Or New Tank Sender?

[bigbad79]

ok so my brand new autometer fuel gauge is not reading my fuel tank level. it has power and is grounded. the sender wire is correctly connected (checked and re-checked) the gauge reads empty and when i turn the key the gauge barely moves off the "E". i've toyed with it for a month, is it safe to assume i need a new tank sender or should i replace the gauge assuming its faulty? and yes there is gas in the tank! oh and the ohms on the gauge are 73-12 which do match fords i belive.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

BigBad79, it's probably a bad sender. You can check the gauge by touching the signal wire (from the sender) to ground. The gauge should then read full. If there's no movement, then the gauge is bad, if it moves to full, the sender is bad. Make sure you are grounding the signal wire and not the power wire, and don't do this near the tank because of the possibility of sparks.

 

[Ziggy]

Make sure you have the proper fuel gauge for Fords. If you have the wrong one, it will not register or it will read backwards.

 

[hey_beaver]

I bet you just have a hole in your sending unit float and it full of fuel. if gauge is fine after the grounding test . drop the tank and pull the sending unit . if you move the arm and the gauge moves sending unit is fine . and you can buy a new float at a ford dealership for about 5 bucks way cheaper than 150 bucks for a new unit. I'm pretty confident from your description its the float. it simply snaps in and out easy fix