Changed fuel filter, now this..

I changed the fuel filter on my 2001 2.7L Tacoma with 243,XXX miles. Im sure it was the original filter. The gas inside was black and I couldn't blow air through the filter, not sure how the truck ran like this. Anyways, my fuel gauge floats all over the place now. It tends to hang out around the 1/2 tank area, but floats up and down. Any ideas where I should check? Air in the system? I have disconnected the battery (Disconnected the negative terminal) for about 10 min to no avail. Fuel gauge prior to the fuel filter change worked perfect.

 

That's very odd. Your fuel filter should have had nothing to do with your level sender. only thing I can think of is while you were wrenching the filter, you accidentally hit the wiring harness for it and pinched it.

run it like this for a week and see what happens.

 

2.7 filter is on the engine, not on the frame rail, so there is no wire there to pinch.

I think what happened was with the filter being so plugged up the fuel pump is spazzing out now that there isn't all that back pressure on the line.

not saying you need to replace the fuel pump now but check your fuel line pressure to see if its stable.

if the sending unit is bad that's part of the fuel pump so either way you may need to change it.

a glimmer of hope is sometimes the internal wire inside the tank goes bad or the plug for it goes bad and maybe that's all it is. also check the plug on top of the gas tank is making good connection

 

Dang, hopefully the problem goes away soon. I'm going to fill up tonight and see what it does.

 

Do you think I need to disconnect the positive battery terminal to sufficiently reset the computer or should the negative do the trick?

 

Mox-nix.

 

I think neither will have any effect whatsoever.

 

I filled up the gas tank again and so far in at half tank and it appears to be working again. No floating of the gauge. Thanks for the help.

 

Another reason to not wait as long as I did to change your fuel filter, it may screw up the fuel pump with the added back pressure of a clogged filter.

 

if you pull the EFI fuse in the fuse box under the hood, wait 15 minutes then put it back in. this resets the ECM and it "relearns" the right fuel air mixtures so after 100 or so driving miles or 4 or 5 running errands with stop and starts it should be sorted.

pulling the EFI fuse resets it without messing up your radio stations or clock