Well, like the post said, swapped out the fuel sending unit and man, what a job on a 10 year old truck. Had to cut the wires on the fuel sending unit as the plug was full of caked on mud, could not siphon all the fuel out of the tank so still had about 35 liters in there. Had a "difficult" time getting the wire connectors out of the sending unit plug on the inside. Just a FYI, the new seal that comes with the unit has to be pushed down past the second lip or it cross threads after the second turn of the cap (took an hour to figure that out!!!). Once reinstalled, put 25 liters of fuel in and tested the system, the low fuel light came on which was good, put in the extra 10 liters and tried to prime the system. It took about 8 bumps of the starter BEFORE the FP came up and could hear the lift pump tone change, gave it 3 more bumps to try and get rid of the air and tried to start it. The old girl fired up and never even missed a beat.

The gauge now says I have less than 1/4 of a tank, whereas the old sender said I had just under 3/4 of a tank. All in all, not bad, but took 2 of us 4 hours and some naughty words to do. Thank goodness for good friends who are willing to help out.

 

Been there also....

 

Been there a couple of times, I know the feelings.

A few people I know did the lift the side of the box trick enough to get to the sending unit. I haven't tried it myself but I guess it works quite well.

Jeff

 

Taking off the bed is so much easier. Sucks you had so much trouble.

 

Plus you are not on your back the whole time.

 

I tried taking the bed off. My impact would not touch the first bolt, so dropped the tank...

Its actually pretty interesting inside the tank and it was amazingly clean...

 

i changed it on a dually once the new one lasted about 3months before it quit working. Good luck

 

The sending unit was improved in 2001.
Apparently the older senders weren't compatible with diesel fuel and slowly melted.

 

cut off wheel,hole in box,reattach the cut out box section with piano hinge,no wrenching rusty bolts.

 

now, that's an idea worth remembering!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i should change mine, it says i'm empty all the time

 

How much did you pay for the part and from where? if you dont mind me asking...
You can PM me if you feel more comfortable, but im planning on doing this in a few weeks and dont want to go into shock when I go to buy the part(s) haha

 

Sender is about $55 from the dealer.

 

I'm with ya,,litteraly i have my tank out now sitting in the garage. Ihalf to order the filter for the bottom of the sending unit. I can't figure out how to get the wires off the inside part. It took 2 of us to get the fuel lines off. My gauge said 1/2 tank one day, then empty the next. When i looked inside the tank, all that was left of the float was an acorn sized piece floating around. This is the second replacement going in. I also use the power service addative, i wander if that speeds up melting of the float. Any other tips on this as i am only half way there. Also i half to drill out a crossmember bolt, and replace all 4. Should have lifted the bed, or cut a hole.

 

Welcome to my world, I have changed hundreds of these over the 20+ years. I spray everything with wd40 then blow everything off with compressed air. Helps loosening mud grip on connectors. Always remember to slide the red lock clip over or you will never get connector off without breaking it. Make sure you clean all the mud from rollover valve vent hole. I have seen fuel tanks collaspe if not vented properly. Good Luck