gas gauge quit working:(

[gotsmeuhh350]

well i get my truck back from the shop last night (new brakes) and i drive around town and blow a quarter tank of gas (was half full). and this morning, i drive out to take care of the farm and my gas gauge is working fine. then i go load up about 400#s of scrap metal, and i drive the 20 miles to the scrap yard and 20 miles back. and my gas gauge needle doesnt move at all. its stuck just under 1/16th of a tank. so i stop and put $10 in, and the needle doesnt move at all. so i go load another truck load and my trailer full of scrap. drive the 20 miles again, and put another $10 in, then the other 20 miles drive home. the needle still wont move. ive tried tapping the gauge, hitting the dash, nothing works. if anyone can help, i would sincerely appreciate it. cause ive ran out of gas so many times thanks to that thing. thanks.

[zieg85]

Mine is slow to respond sometimes, $10 at a time is what 2.5 gallons?  I would check to make sure it is not leaking and fill it up.

[gotsmeuhh350]

its $3.68 a gallon here. so its almost 2 & 3/4 gallons. but i put in a total of $20 today, and it didnt move at all. and i drove about 80 miles.
i just went out and checked, and the only gauges that are working are the volts, and the speedo. the oil pressure gauge hasnt worked since ive owned it same thing with the temp gauge. it has an aftermarket temp gauge though. but the volts doesnt seem right to me. so the only one i think is correct is the speedo. is there a fuse or something that could have gone bad? since ive picked it up, its been having a little bit of an issue idling. i have to rev it up to let it warm up a little, even though its been over 90 everyday this week. bad sending unit?

[zieg85]

Fill it and right down the mileage on a business card and slip it between the gas gauge and the cluster housing.  Run it 100 miles and fill it again.  Check your gas mileage.  My 85 C20 is the one that acts up.  I have ran out with slightly under a 1/4 tank showing while other times it would show a half tank but it will take 16 gallons to fill it.  I just know to expect 12-13 mpg with mine and put 10 gallons every 120-130 miles.  This is a good method until you figure out what is wrong.  My tank went bad and I replaced it and the sender which has never acted correctly since I put it back together. 

What led me to this site was a gas gauge acting up when the lights were on, went to 3 o'clock.  When the lights were off the gauge worked fine.  I ended up trying the dash lights dimmer and found the dash lights affected the operation.  I went to a pick and pull and found a new cluster.  My circuit board was apparently bad.

[gotsmeuhh350]

alright. well my gas tank straps are pretty much gone, so im afraid to put over 3/4 of a tank. but i guess ill have to something like that. thank you.

[bobcooter]

Just a side note. When my tank is full my gas gauge reacts slowly. I looks like I am getting wonderful mileage. When I get down to around a quarter of a tank it looks like I'm getting horrible mileage. I know it's the same and it's just how the gauge works. Weird...

[gotsmeuhh350]

thats pretty much the same exact thing thats happening to me. except i get atleast 15 mpg when im doing 45 mph. lol. i can do 45 on a high idle, cause of my 2.78 gears.

[bobcooter]

I got 3:73 gears so mine likes gas.

[gotsmeuhh350]

oh i bet. i wouldnt be able to drive anywhere if my truck had 4.10s. hahaha. i eventually want to get maybe 3.55s for it. my truck chugs gas until i get up to about 35 or 40. then it just sips it. lol.

[bobcooter]

If I can go 45 or 50 it's not too bad except people will run you over on the interstate.

[gotsmeuhh350]

oh yeah. my friends 86 has 4.10s in it, and its just bad on the highway. but my truck, i can just pin it, and fly past anyone. lol

[gotsmeuhh350]

ok. i got it to work. i disconnected the battery, and dumped 5 gallons of gas into it.