fuel gauge over full

[ricks-ride]

i just bought a 96 ford explorer and everything seems to be working like normal except the fuel gauge reads above full at all times. key on or off, i know on chevys it would be the power. but i thought on fords the gauge would read empty if no power were going to it. anyone know where i should start ?

 

[colingel]

Gauge reads power or not.

 

[colintrax]

Mine reads all the time, and it will go past full if its a full tank.

 

[my98nnj]

Either you bought a used vehicle with a full tank or the gauge is stuck at the full mark.
See if it takes any fuel, if not then congratulations with your purchase and full tank of fuel.
If it does take a good amount of fuel, the gauge is stuck on the full mark.

 

[jcasey007]

disconnect the battery for 5 mins, see if stuck or full

 

[ricks-ride]

i will have to take the battery cable off, i did take it to fill it up and it took over 25 dollars so i know i didnt get it full......l.o.l but now i have to wait till it gets empty to remove the tank and check the sender !

 

[rbiser69]

okay unhooked battery, didnt work, dropped tank to check connections. all good no loose or broken connections. took out gauge cluster still reading over full. took clear glass off front moved needle back to empty, plugged everything back in and the gauge went right past full again. could this be to much current going to fuel gauge? i'm going to buy a new cluster and see if that helps. i just cant see how it burys the needle as soon as i turn the key on ! anymore ideas?

 

[Joe Dirt]

I can't remember if the fuel gauge on the '96 had a resistor on the back or not. I know on some of the gauges in my '95 I had to switch the gauges from the '99 cluster I put in, because they would peg, or stay in one spot. They were a different design with an external resistor on the back, where the newer gen II gauges (I know the voltmeter was)

Some of the gauges did not swap form a later Gen II into my earler Gen I. I do not know if the '96 has that issue, but it's possible, because it is doing what mine was. Is it possible that the previous owner swapped clusters to show a lower mileage?

Has your cluster been replaced, was it like this when you bought it?

 

[rbiser69]

okay, put in a different gauge cluster yesterday and still the same problem. needle pegging past full...... any more ideas, what color are the wires that go to the sender, next i plan on pulling out the pump and checking the ohms to the sender and through the wires !

 

[syn-]

There is a resistor on the back of the cluster, only way to fix (that I know of) is to replace the motor + resistor from a newer cluster. I did the sport cluster swap in my 96 used 02 resistor and motor and it never goes passed full. With the stock cluster my 96 always read past full.

 

[freetodragdoors]

check the sender on the pump had the same problem ended up being the wire for the sender was broken right at the sender it self. i took it apart and soldered it back together

 

[unclemeat]

Try a bottle of Chevron fuel injector cleaner with techron. I know it sounds stupid, but my 04 Ranger fuel gage does crazy things unless I treat the fuel system regularly. Others on this site will agree.

 

[jcasey007]

I beleive the wire is Yellow/White.

If you measure the resistance between the yellow/white wire and earth, the sender should have a resistance of 160 ohms when the tank is full and about 15 ohms when the tank is empty.

Disconnect the plug at the back of the cluster and measure resistance with the ignition off.

if you have a break in the wire to the sender then the resistance would read open circuit (or a resistance of infinity) which your symptoms would suggest.

A high resistance measurement (i.e. over 160 Ohms) could also be caused by a bad earth at the tank or a bad connection in the plug to the tank.

If the electrical wiper on the sender unit is worn this would also show as a high resistance.

One way to easily test it would be a 200 ohm Variable Resistor (about £1 from Maplin) you can simulate the sender at the back by connecting between the yellow/white cable and earth. - Please make sure that you connect the earth to one of the outside connections and the yellow/white to BOTH middle and the other outside connection - otherwise if you turn the pot all the way down you will have zero resistance which may not be too good for the guage.

Hope this helps

 

[rbiser69]

thanks everyone......... i will check the sender tonight, i have already installed a good dash cluster so i know its not that !!

 

[rbiser69]

okay finally got around to removing the tank to take a look at the pump and sender. found the problem right away !! there is 3 screws that hold the sender to the pump plastic body, the 2 that go into the plastic were there but the one that grounds the sender to the pick up was never reinstalled. so some body installed a pump but must of lost one of the screws. it isnt in the tank !
thanks for everyone's help on trying to help me out !!

 

[country059]

In my '97 (2 door sport) after replacing my fuel tank the gauge read over-full all the time. Upon re-dropping the tank I realized (uhg) that I was the culprit.When replacing the unit I had koncked off the blue wire.After reattaching the gauge is working again.Sometimes even being careful you can miss something so simple.

 

[ricklung1972]

hi i just got my explorer two weeks ago and i saw that the gas gauge and temp gauge needles don't go back down when the key is turned off like the oil and battary gauge needls do.they work fine if i put gas in it than turn the key on it goes up and when iam driving around it works like it should and goes down as it use gas and like i said it goes up hire than ware its at if i put more gas in it and goes down the more i drive around and use gas just stays ware its at after i turn the car off.And after i let the car set for awhile and the motor gets cold and turn the key on the temp needle goes right back down to cold and run it for abit than the needle goes back up as the motor warms up like it should and stays at the nomral Operation temp like it should when drving around or seting and ideling it just stays ware its at when i turn the car off and resets after the car sits for abit or awhile than it turn the ignition back on.a friend told me some cars and the explorer is one of them that the gas needle satys in place and doen't go back down with the key turned off.is that the same for the temp needle to he said that some are like springload in the cluster for both gas and temp needles just wanted to know from othe people that has a explorer if this is right.i read alot about problemes with gas and temp and iam geting nothing like iam reading so i thouth i would use this form to fine out if everything ok and thats the way it works thanks for your time.
so does this car do this

 

[RomeovilleIL]

hi i just got my explorer two weeks ago and i saw that the gas gauge and temp gauge needles don't go back down when the key is turned off like the oil and battary gauge needls do.they work fine if i put gas in it than turn the key on it goes up and when iam driving around it works like it should and goes down as it use gas and like i said it goes up hire than ware its at if i put more gas in it and goes down the more i drive around and use gas just stays ware its at after i turn the car off.And after i let the car set for awhile and the motor gets cold and turn the key on the temp needle goes right back down to cold and run it for abit than the needle goes back up as the motor warms up like it should and stays at the nomral Operation temp like it should when drving around or seting and ideling it just stays ware its at when i turn the car off and resets after the car sits for abit or awhile than it turn the ignition back on.a friend told me some cars and the explorer is one of them that the gas needle satys in place and doen't go back down with the key turned off.is that the same for the temp needle to he said that some are like springload in the cluster for both gas and temp needles just wanted to know from othe people that has a explorer if this is right.i read alot about problemes with gas and temp and iam geting nothing like iam reading so i thouth i would use this form to fine out if everything ok and thats the way it works thanks for your time.
so does this car do this

Normal operation. The fuel and temp guages will stay put when you turn off the ignition, or at least they do on the one's I've seen including a bunch at the junk yard.

 

[Don Millar]

Ok since this did not help me at all ! A:fuel gauge reading full all the time ,I had a break in the sending unit wire I used a OHM on 10x was reading zero I found break twisted wires together and it went to 3/4 tank put gas in it stayed at 3/4 tank ,took bed off turned pump went full, drove around ,it went down my issue was a break in the sending unit and a stuck float ! the reading past full was, No reading from the sending unit ,B: I started this journey after a pin hole in the brass float filling it with gas and it only was reading 1/4 tank all the time .

 

[Amador_r25]

I have the same problem on my 96 xlt, I bypassed the antislosh module and it read half tank... then after a bit my oil temp gauge went past full, my gas gauge dropped to empty and my "check gage" light went on