Gas Gauge Issue

[FastGallopingPonies]

Alright, so my gas gauge doesn't go to completely empty it will stop a little before the 1/4 tank mark and when I fill it it bury's way past the full mark. Any ideas what would cause this? any easy fixes? it's just one of those things that bothers me and I hate judging my gas by my mileage just incase I get into a few too many times and run out of gas. I've been carrying a 2 1/2 gallon jug in the trunk just in case, but it's giving off a gas smell into the car. Help is apprieciated greatly as always

[Archangel]

there should be a black box under the dash, sometimes unplugging and then plugging it back in resets the gauge - pretty sure Thain can tell you what that box looks like and where to look for it. Try that, if it don't help tis probably the sender at the tank going bad.

[87_crown_vic]

when the gauge is reading wrong for the gauge being off like that it can be adjusted by bending the arm of the sender unit. sounds like it has a bend in it pointing the float downcausing sending unit to read high.

about the gas needle not moving when adding gas, sounds like float is bad. on side of gas tank facing rearend, there is a wire that connects to 2 prongs covered by rubber boot soze of a quarter or so and about an inch thick. pull it off and connect it backwards. if sending unit is fine, it will cause gauge to go to full. you DO NOT need to pull tank to change float. make sure gas tank is empty or real low before pulling the sending unit out.

[FastGallopingPonies]

thanks for the replies guys, I'll give it a shot.

[P72Ford]

My gas gauge behaves the same way. But, with me, the tank is all dented on the bottom. So I lost a few gallons of capacity. Someone picked my car up with a forklift from behind... bent the tank all up. I'm not really that concerned with it, and when I need to, I'll chaneg the tank.

[86VickyLX]

Alright, so my gas gauge doesn't go to completely empty it will stop a little before the 1/4 tank mark and when I fill it it bury's way past the full mark. Any ideas what would cause this? any easy fixes? it's just one of those things that bothers me and I hate judging my gas by my mileage just incase I get into a few too many times and run out of gas. I've been carrying a 2 1/2 gallon jug in the trunk just in case, but it's giving off a gas smell into the car. Help is apprieciated greatly as always

What does he gauge do when you turn the car off? Does it go to E then? If not it has something to do with the gauge itself. Did you by any chance accidentally hit the needle on the guage? They are very sensitive and they mess up really easy.

[87_crown_vic]

i got an extra tank here... doubt it would b safe to ship if needed... be easier i am sure to get one from scrapyard

[FastGallopingPonies]

the needle does go to E when I turn the car off.

[87_crown_vic]

like i stated... sounds like the sending unit arm is bent and needs to be bent to correct the problem. sounds like it is bent down toward the gas which will cause upper part of arm to make it read higher than what it is.

[gadget73]

mine does this too, runs out of gas a tiny tiny bit above E, and stays above full for about 100 miles. Considering I get maybe 250 on a tank normally, thats significant. I think the arm is tweaked on mine too, least thats the only way I can think of to fix it. It seems to have gotten worse since I replaced the fuel tank, so its possible I bent it slightly installing it. You should be able to get the sender out without removing the tank, just make sure the fuel level is down or you're gonna get a gas bath. Tap the lock ring out and pull the sender. Once its out, you should be able to use pliers or something to tweak the arm upward a bit to get the gauges closer to accurate.