well my friend got an idea that he was going to paint the needles in the instrument cluster in his truck (92 f-150). it looked really cool when he was done so i attempted to do the same. after i put the needles back, i noticed that my fuel gauge was wayyy off. i filled up the tank and set the needle to full, but now after i drove around for a while and used up some gas, the needle will not move! maybe i damaged something trying to get the needle off (it was a mother trying to get them off in the first place)? is there a cheap fix? its kinda weird because even though it will not move away from the full mark (where i put it), if you move the needle manually with your finger while the truck is on, it will return to the full mark after you release it. so, what exactly did i mess up in the truck? is it easy/cheap to fix? thanks!

 

ok well it sorta came back. even though the tank is full, it now marks 1/2 tank, but now it actually moves after driving a while. im scared that if i pull the needle off to point it in the right direction it might get messed up again. what am i doing wrong?

 

i also have i 1991 tauras S.H.O and i put white face gauges and it was a mother to get my coolant gauge back in sink i just remembered where it always stays at while im driving i just let it idle till i heard the fan kick on and knew right where it goes when the fan comes on but in your case i would pull the needle off fill your gas tank and then put the needle to full try that if not your probably going to need a new gauge hope i helped

 

Unfortunately, when the tank is full, the needle goes past the pin to stop it. This is why you can sometimes drive on a full tank for a while and the needle doesn't move. The same is true with it empty, too. The only way I know of to set it correctly is to completely empty one tank. Drive on it until it sputters and wants to quit, then switch over to your other tank. Go to a gas station, and fill the tank half full (put in half as many gallons as it's listed capacity is), then switch the tank selector to the half full tank, and install the needle so that it points straight up.

Take care,
~Chris

 

i can only use one tank in my truck because the selector valve was bad when i ought the truck and i never got it fixed, plus the front gas tank (the one i dont use) has a bad in-tank fuel pump. right know i know about how much gas i have because i know when i reach around 75 miles im at half tank. i guess im gonna paly around with it a little more and see if i get lucky.

 

finally got the gauge fixed. when i dismantled the gauge bezel and everything, i also unplugged the fuel tank selector switch and with this unplugged the gauge will not work. i was trying to set the needle after taking the bezel apart, but i had left the switch unplugged and thats why i was having trouble before. its kind of a dumb mistake, but i figured id post it in case someone has this prolem in the future.