91-94 gas guage fix, maybe...

[ajevenson]

To all of you who have a 91-94 X that the gas guage dosen't work, check the harness behind the drivers rear wheel. I haven't had a working gas guage for 6 months. I went under there tonight determined to fix the bloody 'Rear-Antilock' light that stays on in my dash all the time. I noticed that in the bundle of 4 wires in the harness just above the rear shock, that the harness had been rubbing on the frame and rubbed through the pink wire (or maybe it was tan, I dunno cus I'm color blind) causing it to short out on the frame. I cut the wire out of the harness (it was too close to the connector to splice into or tape up) and cut it on the other side as well bypassing the harness and spliced tthe two together. Now the gas guage works.

BTW I still havent found out why the Rear Antilock light is on. Everything seems fine, no broken wires, or anything pissing fluid. Annoys the heck out of me though...

 

[TwoToneX]

Wow, thanks for this tip. I'll have to check out if that's the problem on mine..

 

[OLE BLUE]

yikes,, i have a 91, and i have this problem too(gas guage dont work, and rear antilock light stays on).. my expl. when sitting at an idle, kicks the rpm`s high then low. whats up with that? i have replaced a lot of everything in this dang truck, and still cant get her to run right..i found some info. the other day on pc. that if you have had to disconnect the batt.,, you should reset something each time, but i dont remember what it is. do you know?

 

[Jason_25]

Originally posted by OLE BLUE
yikes,, i have a 91, and i have this problem too(gas guage dont work, and rear antilock light stays on).. my expl. when sitting at an idle, kicks the rpm`s high then low. whats up with that? i have replaced a lot of everything in this dang truck, and still cant get her to run right..i found some info. the other day on pc. that if you have had to disconnect the batt.,, you should reset something each time, but i dont remember what it is. do you know?

If you started a new thread on your problem or did a search you would be well on your way to finding the problem. At first glance, it seems to me that your a/c compressor is too low/high on refrigerant.

 

[MR99si]

My guage doesn't work either but I can't seem to find any broken wires. I am contemplating just bypassing the connect like you did, sound like a bad idea? Oh and there are a tan and a pink wire, does anyone know which one is the gas guage wire?

 

[ajevenson]

If no one else gets back to you maybe I can take a picture of that harness and my splice and post it. Me personally I'd check the wires with a multimeter to make sure that the wire is in fact dead. The reason that I knew mine wasnt the float was cus my guage sat at full until I turned the vehicle off. Then it would slowly fall down to half after about 10 minutes. Sometimes when going over big bumps with the headlights on, the guage would immediately fall down to 'E' and then go back up when I turned the lights off. If your guage reads 'E' or just above all the time and never moves, there's a pretty good chance it the brass float that's toast. If its doin all sorts of funky things, its a wiring thing.

 

[MR99si]

Yeah, it's not doing funky things. It sat for about 4 months and then when I went to drive it it just sits at E. Sometimes when I go to start it the guage reads a little above E and then when I do start it drops down all the way.

 

[duke16]

mines the same way, one of these days i'll get around to dropping the tank. has anyone done this? what does it involve?

 

[RSylvestri]

Ya mine sits at E most of the time or a little above, I was hoping it was the wiring-Dang! I guess it's drop the tank time, no fun, I did it to my 99 4X4 PowerStroke, at least it had room. Good luck to all !!

Rick

 

[91navjo]

my gas gauge in my 91 navajo didnt work but i put a float in it and the gauge works fine.. some of you guys with bad gauge might want to check that out. the float filling up with gas is common on earlier explorers

 

[mahieber]

There are detailed instructions on dropping the tank at Dead Link Removed
You absolutely need to have the fuel-line disconnect tools.
It takes about an hour if you have ramps or a lift.

 

[ajevenson]

Posting update

So after going out and getting stuck two weekends ago, now the gas guage is doing funny things. When I start it up it works. After 10-12 minutes it drops to 'E'. It will drop sooner if I'm driving and I move the shift lever From 'OD' to 'D'. Once its on 'E' it will not come back on until I shut the truck off and let it cool down. The engine temp has to go below 'C' before the guage will work again. I've check all the wires that I spliced and the connections are fine. It seems like a circuit is being overloaded by current and heat. Any ideas?