Innacurate fuel reading

Dipn tanks. I cant count how many trucks I've drove without fuel gauges.

 

Yep, guess they don't teach new drivers about inaccurate fuel gauge and how to dip em

 

Every truck I've had has had inaccurate fuel gauges. They all tend to be on the conservative side, showing a lower level than what I actually have.
That is probably intentional, by the way.

So, what is the big deal?
When I get a new truck I let it get to the point the light goes on and then fill it to see how much it takes.
Then I let it get lower, like nearly to the E line, and fill it again.

Pretty soon I know how much is really in the tanks at any given time.

 

The last time I looked it was $1400 for the unit and another $300 for the sensor, and it does not hook up to your trucks' ecm, it is a standalone system made for fuel tanks and very accurate.

 

That is a LOT of wasted money.

 

Mine never says full and runs out still saying 3/8 of a tank. Since I 8nly have 2 100 gallon tanks I fill every day. Tanks only fill to like 90-95% and then you never pick up say the last 5% so figure accordingly.

 

What's the position of your filler holes????? It's quite possible the tanks aren't in the right position.

I drove an 05 kw that had the filler hole straight up. I don't remember what the gauge did but it's parameters were never right. A simple repositioning of the tank fixed that.

I always thought it was strange how the drivers tank went straight up but the passenger tank was angled. After the fix both tanks were angled. Roughly at 11 o clock position.

It's also possible your truck has one of them faulty sensors. I drove a 16 last year that went through 3 sensors in the year i drove that truck. It stopped working for the 4th time when I left the company.

 

Snowwy, the tank sending unit needs to be vertical, no angles at all. The tank filler can be anywhere but the sending unit has to be vertical.

If there is sensors being screwed up and stop working, chances are they are being slammed into the tank and screwed up. Had that happened at the dealer, brought a truck in to get a new tank put on, the sensor worked great before but when they moved it to the new tank the gorilla handed mechanic jammed it into the tank and bent one of the tabs on the sensor which would not allow it to travel up or down, it got stuck on the bottom, they filled the tank and never bothered to look at the gauge, then delivered it back to my yard where it sat for a week while the driver was on vacation. When he got into the truck, he reported the gauge issue and we sent it back to the dealer who complained about it working before but it was impossible that the truck went more than the 100 miles from the dealer according to the paper work.

Another thing I've run into on one truck is the driver kept filling the take all the way, the float arm became bent and showed empty when it have over a quarter tank of fuel.

 

You don't say. @Ridgeline

Depends on how the tank is produced.

Still. If it's not in the right position. the sensor won't be either. And most standard tanks will have the filler hole at 11 o clock. Assuming he has a standard tank. I've only had one truck that wasn't. And I mentioned it. And it got repositioned. all was good after that.