Superduty fuel guage reading innacurately?

DieselDan · January 4, 2005

I had the second truck in today that was out of fuel with the guage reading just above the "E". Has anyone else seen this? Both trucks were 04 models.I had an '03 F-250 with a 7.3l and I ran it to below the "E" a couple of times with no problem.

Keith Browning · January 7, 2005

Dan,

Did you run an OASIS on this concern? There is a service message on this concern that will be of help to you. Go to Ask Ernie and type in "SSM-18217"

DISCONNECT THE BATTERY(S) FOR ONE MINUTE AND RECONNECT.
USE THE NGS DIAGNOSTIC (RED) CARD TO VIEW THE 'FUELLVL PID' IN THE HEC/ICM TO CHECK THE FUEL SIGNAL TO THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER. THE PID READING IS A PERCENT OF TANK FULL, SO 50% SHOULD HAVE A FUEL GAUGE INDICATION OF ABOUT 1/2 TANK.
YOU CAN ALSO USE WDS AND PID MONITOR/ACTIVE COMMAND MODE TO SEND A SIMULATED SIGNAL TO THE CLUSER IN THE SAME WAY.

THE PID VALUE RESPONDS INSTANTLY TO FUEL SLOSH AND VEHICLE TILT, BUT THE FUEL GAUGE RESPONDS MORE SLOWLY TO COMPENSATE FOR SLOSH.

I have seen sender issues on several '03 & '04 F-Series. There are no grounds to check because the sender circuit starts and ends with the cluster. The service message Will help you quickly identify if the cluster is properly calibrated and funtioning properly. If so, direct your attention to the sender.

DieselDan · January 8, 2005

Thanks Doc. I have seen and used that SSM before, but for a different concern. I didn't get a chance to check either one of the trucks that had run out of fuel because they were both from our used car dept. and were out of 3/36. Our UCD is on the cheap side and only fixes what they absolutely have to.

I was thinking that it was probably a sending unit concern. I have had a few 03/04 trucks with guages that did strange things because of a bad sending unit.