Fuel gauge

Has anyone ever had a fuel gauge that doesn't read? Mine stays at the bottom of the gauge no matter how much gas is in the tank. It was fine and all of a sudden I get this. The low fuel light is always on as well if this helps. Any ideas?

Loose connection, broken wire. The fuel level sensor in the tank feeds both the guage and th elow fuel light

So could the sender be bad, or no?

yes

Some high sulphur fuels can cause a coating to build up on the wire resistance element, causing loss of fuel gauge function. A bottle of fuel system cleaner with Techron (the big $$ stuff) will often clean the sender element and get the gauge working again.

If the sender itself is just worn out, replacement is relatively easy once you drop the tank. the problem is that the sender is obsolete from Ford, and I dont think they are available from the aftermarket.

my 86 had the same problem when i bought it. the guy that had it told me that it has been like that for years. Sincs it also had a tank leak i bought a new tanks and when i took the sender out i found it was missing the float, then while empting the gas from the tank i found the float, replaced it on the sender and it works perfect again. well as perfect as any ford fuel guage. LOL

Do the senders use a plastic or a brass float? My other Ford products have brass floats that cracked and filled with gas so I blew the gas out of them and soldered them and put 'em back in. Generally the sender only needs a cleaning of the contact and resistance wire to function like new. The low fuel light is controlled by the fuel gage, when the gage is at about 1/8 the light comes on. Check the wire to the sender for a pulsating reading around 5v. If no voltage repair the wire. If voltage is present repair the sender.

Alright...this sounds like good advice. I wasn't sure if the gauge controled the light or the sender, but that makes sense. Should I pull the dash and check the voltage there, or is there a better/easier place?

At least for now...the other ideas sound like I have to pull the tank and I will try to avoid that until it is necessary. But with my luck, the tank is comming down.

Don. Mine had the same exact Black Foam float from my an 89 stang sender i had laying around