Opacity

My fuel level sending unit hasn't worked in over 10 years. Not even once in over 10 years. Gauge always reads below E and low fuel light has been on eternally. Recently I replaced my prefilter, I have also performed every single maintenance task. About a week after the prefilter swap, one cold morning at the bottom of my street, (front end lower than rear end) I noticed the fuel gauge read 1/8th tank and the fuel light was off!!! As soon as the light turned green and I hit level ground, it went back to dead, with the light on. Now, today after a nice hard WOT pull, the gauge WORKS!!!!! It reads just a hair under a half tank, and the low fuel light is off!!!!! IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?!! I keep telling myself it is because the prefilter is clean, so I am getting full flow in my fuel system and with all the WOT runs I do it finally "blew" or sucked out what was causing it to fail?? My inner gut is telling me "don't be a retard" because this defies logic, while a part of me is saying "FIXED!!"

Any input? Has anyone removed and fiddled with a fuel level sending unit on a 94-98 CTD??

TIMMY22

Yup, the float cound have been stuck against the side of the tank. I put a new one in once and at first the float was rubbing the side of the tank. You loosen up the plastic nut, give it a quater turn and you're good.

Just like if you've ever installed a float on a 275 gallon oil tank.

Opacity

Gotcha!!

Cool, wow, first time I fixed something without touching it. And to think I was going to buy a new one from the dealer!!!

Wait until I tell my old boss, the original owner which the gauge NEVER worked for!!!

Thank you for the info!!!!!!

jknowles4

I sure wished this would happen to mine. I just got on the site to see what the part number is for a new sending unit. If anyone knows the part number can you please post it. In the meantime I will be searching.

custom66coronet

Here is the # I found. dodge pn 4797738. I took mine apart and replaced the pivot pin with a 4-40 machine screw and 2 nuts to lock it. took a little modifying but made it work.

TIMMY22

Keep in mind, dodge sells a refurbished one for half the $300 of a new.

Opacity

Well, I knew it was false hope. It worked up until yesterday morning . Went out at 5am getting ready to plow. Before I get to my first account, gauge now reads exactly half. So it went up with no fuel added. Then, within a couple minutes, it went dead again and the low fuel light turned on and has been like that ever since.

Im going to try the 1/4 turn trick at some point. Will let you know how it turns out.

On another note, I saw 205 degree oil temps at low speeds on long hill climbs, coolant temps never got past 190 on stock gauge. As soon as I got on level ground or idled not moving, oil temps went down to 190 where they normally are. I wish I had a pyro.

schoust

Unfortunetly you will have to drop the tank. I had the same thing happen to me when I first bought my 95 but tired of the thing working then not working. I bought the new floatand potentiometer and replaced them. It did the trick nicely and have not had any issue since.

jknowles4

I raised the bed the other day and fixed mine. It really wasn't hard at all. I searched here and found to remove all 4 bolts on the drivers side (bed) and just loosen all 4 on the passenger side (loosen them to where there is just a few threads holding them in). I had my brother help me tilt the bed up about 12-16 inches, pulled out the sending unit and followed these instructions http://dodgeram.org/tech/repair/fuel...sender-diy.htm I just used a push washer instead of a push nut. It cost $.13 from ace hardware. It works great now. I don't know how long it will last but it really wasn't hard at all. If you decide to try it and have any questions give me a hollar!!

Box5

it's become second nature to fill up by my odometer. My gauge might read 1/8th tank every once in awhile, but 99% of the time it reads empty with the light on . Atleast now I can monitor my mpg every time i fill up. 19mpg almost every tank so far makes me forget the gauge doesnt work, lol.