Well, I geuss my time has come... The gas guage quit working the other day. Pulled up to a stop light, light goes green, put her in 2nd gear to take off and blah blah blah, sputtered to a stop. Looked at my guage, nothing, notied gas guage on "F"... So, what do I dao now???

 

I assume the truck is not running at this time. Fill the tank with at least 10 gallons. After that bump the starter (engage starter for a split second, and leave the key in the ON position). This tricks the ECM by making it think it was a failed start. The ECM will then turn on the lift pump for ~25 seconds. You can refill the fuel lines and fuel filter canister this way. Cycle the lift pump 2-4 times and try to start the truck. Leave the key on between crankings so the lift pump runs. Try to start it 3 or 4 times.


If it still won't start then crack open 3 injector lines. You need to purge the injector lines before it will start again. Crank the engine 15 seconds, and let the starter rest at least 1-2 minutes or it can get damaged from excess heat buildup. Do the crank cycles until fuel is seeping from the loosened fittings. Now tighten them. You only need 3 injectors firing to get the engine to start, it will sound very rough. Once it starts let it idle until it smooths out, DO NOT rev the engine to try and make the air purge from the lines faster. This can put unnessesary stress on some of the componets inside the VP44. Once its running check all fittings (fuel filter included) for leaks. After you are certain there are no leaks you are finished.

This should get you going again.

 

Well, i hate to break it to ya jrs dodge diesel, but i got it running agian, its just that i need to know how to replace the Gas Guage... Sorry i didnt explain it better and you had to type all that...

 

Ah, don't worry about it.

As far as the fuel level sensor goes, you need to get access to the top of the fuel tank. You can either remove the bed and get to it that way or if the lank level is low enough you can drop the tank. Be careful if you drop the tank, there are a few precaution here with that. One is weight, it can be heavy. Diesel wieghs 7.1 pounds per gallon. having just 10 gallons in it just increased its wieght by 71 pounds. Also, it is a long skinny tank. If you drop it and the fuel sloshes to one end it will probably fall or slip from your hands, it can be very ackward to handle. If you drop the tank have a guy on each and to lower the tank down.

Once you have access to the top of it you can open the tank. There is a large fitting on top where all of the lines and wiring for the sensor go through. Unscrew the large lock ring to pull the module. The dealership may tell you that you have to replace the entire module, but you can replace the sensor. Should be easy to find and replace once you get the module out. Hardest part about the whole job I've read is just getting to the top of the tank to pull the module.