Gas gauge not working

[Matthew Mitchell 2]

It's been a rough day fixing stuff on the truck. Anyways, decided to finally attempt to take a look at my gas gauge since it hasn't been working properly for a year now and has been getting worse. So what usually will happen is when I turn the key over, the needle will jump very fast and not go up to the correct gas level, sometimes even going WAY over full to the blank side of the gauge. Or it sometimes won't even move at all. I'm kinda thinking it might just be a bad connection somewhere, but even now the truck is off and the needle is pointing to full which it should be pointing to beneath empty like it used to do. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated before I drop the tank for no reason at all.

 

[Yardsale]

Seems electrical to me. Could be a bad connection or broken wire (inside the insulation). Check the grounds and connections (I think I'd start under the dash, then the panel and then, the dreaded tank area). If you don't find what you're looking for, get a multi-meter and check voltages along the wire.



Perhaps there's a known gremlin that someone will mention.

 

[Craig Martin 2]

I have exactly the same thing going on with mine. If you figure it out let me know!

 

[Gary Mason]

Seems others on here have mentioned a questionable battery often for electrical issues. Any thoughts on that?

 

[Dreman]

I remember a few years ago just reaching under the truck and wiggling the connectors around for a bit, and the problem went away. Might work for you. I've changed the entire fuel pump since then, so I don't know if will work forever, but it worked for a couple of years.