'97.5 Explorer - Fuel Meter Stays Up

[foot1647]

Hi there, I this is my first post and I searched here and google to no avail.

I have a '97.5 Explorer v8 5L RWD with 211k miles. I have had this vehicle for 7 years and have done 95% of all repairs and fixes on my own so any help is appreciated. Recently I had my fuel siphoned with a locking gas cap and I'm wondering if its because my fuel gauge doesn't go to 'empty' when off basically advertising how much fuel I have in my tank.

As long as I've owned this vehicle, the battery, coolant, ETC meters all go to 'empty/off' when I turn the vehicle off, except the fuel gauge always stays at whatever level my fuel is at. It doesn't stick in place at all like all my searches came up with, it works perfectly fine and so does my low fuel light.

How can I get my fuel gauge to show empty when vehicle is off as to not show everyone I have 18 gallons of fuel sitting.

Thank you!

 

[Mbrooks420]

i would think they would try and steal your gas no matter what the gauge would say.

I don't believe my fuel gauge drops to zero like the others as well.

 

[foot1647]

They probably would, its the first time its ever happened to me. I never thought about my fuel meter until this happened. I thought maybe it was something faulty in it "zeroing" out or a way to make it drop when off. Its all stock as well if that matters.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Did they empty it?

 

[foot1647]

Was just over half, almost 3/4 as I remember. It was on E when I turned it on, but I'm about 1/4th of a mile from my nearest gas station so I wasn't stranded, luckily.

 

[J_C]

Did they get in through the gas cap, picking or breaking it? Just wondering if there's any chance the sender was just sticking so it registered higher than actual then became unstuck.

On mine I had occasion to sipon fuel out by disconnecting the filler tube at the tank, just taking the hose clamp off. I vaguely recall that when I'd tried to get a hose down the filler tube (taking the gas cap off) it met an obstruction which I had assumed was an anti-siphon block in it.

 

[foot1647]

I am unsure. I had a Locking Gas cap, the kind with a little silver piece that slides over the keyhole, I got at Baxter's Autoparts, I think it was the basic locking cap about $15. I looked up on YouTube and apparently locking gas caps are super easy to "pop" open without a key. I live in an apartment complex that is very quiet but we live near extremely rural areas even though I'm in a small city myself. I've never siphoned my own fuel in the Explorer. I did once in my '81 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, rear tank behind plate style fuel port, and it was super easy.

Mainly just was curious if there is a way to make my fuel gauge show "empty/off" when my vehicle is off. My coolant temp, battery and fuel pressure gauge all 'shut off' when I turn my key off, my fuel gauge just stays at whatever fuel level I currently have, even when battery is disconnected or dead. I'm all for doing something aftermarket, if its cheap anyways, so any suggestion would be great!

 

[Mbrooks420]

I checked mine and it drops to 3/4 when it's almost full after I turn off the key.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Being how the fuel gauge works on a resistive strip I would think you could put a relay in between. Have the fuel gauge signal wire run through a normally open contact. Tie the relay coil to a key on power source. On the normally closed side of the relay have a small value resistor in series with the signal wire.

 

[J_C]

^ I was thinking similar but if the relay is on a key on power source, once the key is shut off, where is the power coming from to go through the resistor to move the gauge? Due to that I was wondering if it would be necessary to flip a switch instead, before vehicle is turned off to move the gauge... except I keep forgetting if having the float near empty is a higher or lower resistance.

 

[Mbrooks420]

You could have a 12v fed to the line side of the NC. The key on would just trigger the relay coil to allow normal operation. You could possibly use a potentiometer to dial it in, or you could check the resistance of the signal wire when the tank was low.

I would use a DPDT relay to simplify and isolate the two circuits.