fuel guage/how many ohms? / introduce myself

[kowalskijon]

Hey guys, new here with a new to me 85' F250.

My fuel sending units do not work... nor the the two "new ones" i got out of the junk yard... I would like to know how many ohms they are supposed to read at empty and full. I am about to order some universal fuel level sending units from summit, they operate at 240ohms empty and 33ohms full. My stock fuel guage does indeed work, if its the same ohms as these universal sending units then i will use it for now. if not, i will toss in a new autometer fuel guage and stick it under the dash where the PO has the temp, oil press, volts guage. I plan to get a new guage panel from the junk yard and fill it with autometer guages in the future. I have the bed off the truck now to install new fuel tanks, fuel lines, remove the tank switching valve and install a transfer pump from rear tank to front among other things!

things i have done to the truck since i got it 3 or so months ago;
Junk yard seat
new fuel return lines
new voltage regulator
removed 6" lift swapped a kingpin 60 in its place
found new tires on CL $50
cleaned up a bit of wiring from the PO
GP's & switch
high idle switch
a few other misc things im forgetting

things on the to do list
new front clip
new doors
new bed/tailgate
paint
new interior
install cummins thats taking up space in my garage
add miles to odometer

I have lurked on your forum for awhile, seems like alot of nice people and lots of good info! Thanks to all who have put the time into this forum so someone new to the IDI's like me can simply read up on problems and find a fix for it so easily!

 

[GOOSE]

Welcome to our site, sounds like you have a nice rig to work on. Oh yeah............no pics,

 

[Silver Burner]

Welcome to the site! Sounds like you've got quite a bit of know-how! You're gonna make a fine addition to the oilburners community!

 

[antiqueford]

Welcome!

How did you end up with 4 bad fuel senders?? Are you sure there isn't a bad connection somewhere? I just got my truck too an the first thing I had to fix was a sender. Turned out to be a flooded float, easy fix.

 

[Old Blue]

Welcome to our site, sounds like you have a nice rig to work on. Oh yeah............no pics,

Wow harsh welcome for the new guy GOOSE hehe! Pictures are good though, we all love em. Welcome to the site, lots of good guys and good info here I've found it very useful!

For your fuel gauge the older pre-87 Fords had a different senders than the newer ones:

Empty Ohms	Full Ohms	Model Year
73	10	Prior to 1987 Ford Truck
22.5 (15)	145 (160)	1987 - up Ford Trucks (EVTM Manual Specs)

I have ordered a set of capacitive senders from Centroid Products to test on my truck, they are spec'd for 10-180 Ohm range which should be compatible with the later Fords. I will post my results once I get them, it takes a few weeks. Centroid can make these electronic senders any length you want in 1/2" increments and they can configure them in 240/33 ohms, 0/90 ohms, 10/180 ohms, 76/6ohms, 100/6 ohms, 0/30 ohms, 0/5 volts (eg ISIS), 0/4V (eg for CompuTank displays), or 4/20 milliamps configurations for pretty much any gauge out there it seems. They use these a lot in boats and marine applications.

This company seems really "mom and pop" they ONLY take orders by phone I was informed after I faxed an order per the website instructions and called later on to find out they don't do the faxes any more??? The answer the phone 4 days a week (Mon-Thurs) from 8 am to 2 pm EST, but I called probably a dozen times and it mostly rings busy. They've been in business since 1987 though and it seems like they have had some good reports on their senders on other websites. $62 for a sender under 12" was the current pricing. The tanks need holes cut for these senders, I'll post some pics when I do it.

 

[kowalskijon]

Welcome to our site, sounds like you have a nice rig to work on. Oh yeah............no pics,

HAHA! Thanks for the welcome goose, ill get on the pics, although its not really much to look at right now...

Welcome to the site! Sounds like you've got quite a bit of know-how! You're gonna make a fine addition to the oilburners community!

Thanks Silver Burner! This isn't my first rodeo, been wrenchin on stuff since i finished building my first custom harley in high school. its a sickness and I have it BAD! haha!

Welcome!

How did you end up with 4 bad fuel senders?? Are you sure there isn't a bad connection somewhere? I just got my truck too an the first thing I had to fix was a sender. Turned out to be a flooded float, easy fix.

Both the senders in my truck worked intermittently, after the first 1/4 tank they went down to E. one of the senders from the 88' i got from the Junkyard didn't work at all, the other only begins to read when the rear tank gets down to about 1/2 tank. although i have much more than a half tank, based on what ol blue posted im guessing it may be due to the difference in ohms between the years.

Wow harsh welcome for the new guy GOOSE hehe! Pictures are good though, we all love em. Welcome to the site, lots of good guys and good info here I've found it very useful!

For your fuel gauge the older pre-87 Fords had a different senders than the newer ones:

Empty Ohms	Full Ohms	Model Year
73	10	Prior to 1987 Ford Truck
22.5 (15)	145 (160)	1987 - up Ford Trucks (EVTM Manual Specs)

I have ordered a set of capacitive senders from Centroid Products to test on my truck, they are spec'd for 10-180 Ohm range which should be compatible with the later Fords. I will post my results once I get them, it takes a few weeks. Centroid can make these electronic senders any length you want in 1/2" increments and they can configure them in 240/33 ohms, 0/90 ohms, 10/180 ohms, 76/6ohms, 100/6 ohms, 0/30 ohms, 0/5 volts (eg ISIS), 0/4V (eg for CompuTank displays), or 4/20 milliamps configurations for pretty much any gauge out there it seems. They use these a lot in boats and marine applications.

This company seems really "mom and pop" they ONLY take orders by phone I was informed after I faxed an order per the website instructions and called later on to find out they don't do the faxes any more??? The answer the phone 4 days a week (Mon-Thurs) from 8 am to 2 pm EST, but I called probably a dozen times and it mostly rings busy. They've been in business since 1987 though and it seems like they have had some good reports on their senders on other websites. $62 for a sender under 12" was the current pricing. The tanks need holes cut for these senders, I'll post some pics when I do it.

Thanks for the info! Ill check out thier products too, i havent ordered from summit yet!