I have a 1995 Dakota Sport Cab, 4x4, auto, 3.9, and i have a minor but annoying problem with it, the fuel gauge is broken and wont register any fuel levels at all. i bought this truck from my dad a couple of weeks ago when i turned 16 and mostly everything else works great except for that gauge. i talked to my dad about it and he told me that every time he goes in to fill up the tank, he just resets the trip odometer. he says that he gets about 210 miles per tank (an even mixture of residential, highway, and off-road driving) and when the odo shows 210 he goes in to fill up. Theres no problem with that, but i just find it annoying and if anyone knows how to fix this without me having to buy an new gauge that would be awesome
thanks

 

It is a tab that gets loose and sometimes corrodes. Check the FAQ in this section for more info on it.

 

Mine is stuck on full I do the same thing. To fix you have to drop the gas tank and remove the fuel pump where the sending unit is...I am to lazy to fix mine...

 

It could be that your fuel pump float needs to be adjusted by hand. Sometimes it bends wrong or gets stuck. I had the same exact problem with my fuel gauge, so I pulled my fuel pump and adjusted the float and fuel pump in a different position. Now my fuel gauge is 95% accurate.

P.S your truck should be able to get up too 330 miles with a full tank depending on it's gallon capacity.

 

Just a warning also if it is a sending unit problem replacing it may not completely fix the problem. The sending unit on mine was bad and when I replaced the fuel pump assembly the gauge still didn't work correctly. My theory is that the gauge has a hang up point around a 1/4 tank since it spent about 5 years on empty. So basically after a fill up it will hang at a 1/4 tank for a day or two before finally heading all the way to full.

 

Yea, I also have the same exact problem. Seems the Daks suffer from this one issue. I do plan to get it done really soon. I'll let you know how it goes, maybe it'll help you.

Mine is a 22 Gal tank. I get 330 mi give or take. 3.9 V6

 

I have a similar issue, except mine just jumps around and twitches a lot. Sometimes it seem that it will read accurate, but then it seems to ground out, reading empty. I think its a bad ground somewhere.

 

mine works perfect from F-3/4 then it bounces around till 1/4 then it goes to empty and gas light randomly comes on. i've driven 260 miles and then re-filled and only took 17 gallons. i'd really rather never run out of gas so i always refill at like 240-260ish

 

seeing as i have the same problem as most of you i am wondering if its a quick and easy fix. well maybe not super easy but less expensive then actually buying and changing the whole thing out.

First is the gauge just a float ?

and if so could it be just a lot of gunk has accumulated on the float itself?

because my gauge is just stuck under 1/4 tank and it stays there. at one time it actually would become unstuck when i hit a bump in the road and as the lvl went down and got around 1/4 tank it would become stuck again and now its there all the time. so i am thinking of just dropping the tank and cleaning the float? anyone else try this? and might have some insight and save me time if i am wrong? thanx for your help ahead of time

 

easier way to access the tank is to take the bed off. I replaced the my fuel pump by dropping the tank but when I put back in it was turned to the side and the float got stuck. Then I said screw that I am not dropping the tank again since it was full so unbolted the bed and moved it back easy peezy.