Wonky needle

My gas needle has gone insane when I left home I had a full tank or at least that’s what the gauge said about 30 miles into my trip it said half and as I’m driving it goes from half to 1/4 and then back to 3/4 and then back down again. Could it be the sending unit has just gone bad or maybe a fuse blown? Anyone ever dealt with this? 02 std cab 5 spd 2.4

 

Just made the trip home(35 miles)the needle fluctuated twice after start up and then remained steady at 3/4 of a tank all the way home.

 

@caribe makaira or @Dm93 might have a clue. Good luck! Oh and Black Betty is a beaut!

 

Thanks

 

I'll guess the float is sticking on the sending unit.

If it was a fuse it wouldn't work at all

 

Thanks yeah I’m sure I’ll just end replacing it. Old truck probably hasn’t ever been replaced

 

Maybe put an injector cleaner in the tank on the next fill up and give a little bounce on the rear bumper to free it up. Don’t know.

 

Will do thanks

 

I had the same problem on my '03 for months. One time I watched it go from 3/4 to below empty, in about 10 seconds, while driving down the highway. I literally pulled over to ensure I didn't have a massive fuel leak.

Then mysteriously the problem just stopped happening altogether. I later swapped the sending unit, only because I was akready in there doing the pump, but the problem had been gone for months at that point. I have not had the problem reoccur with my new sending unit either.

 

Mine is also an 03 and has had the same issue, it's most likely the sending unit or as mentioned the float is sticking. In my case I left work one day and the gauge showed zero, of course my paranoid ass thought for sure someone stole gas. The first corner I went around it floated back up to around half.

My solution was to never let it get below half and haven't seen it do it again since.

The reason for the story, when it's doing it again while driving safely swerve left and right a few times and give it 5-10 seconds, see if it comes back up. Sending unit is on my list of things I should do but am not really willing to take on the PITA at the moment.

 

I feel ya man I’m not looking forward to the job either lol but I may have to that shiz will drive me insane so far today it seems to be back to normal or I guess it is because I have no way of knowing if I really have half a tank or not lol

 

excellent advice
Agreed

 

Update issue has not recurred it’s been a week and the gauge is working fine just to be sure I put some Lucas fuel system treatment in today