• We welcome content that is not political, divisive, or offensive. If we feel your content leans this way or has the potential to, it may be removed at any time. A hot pepper forum is not the place for such content. Thank you for respecting the community!

Any Mechanics on the THP?

Magged Out

Magged Out

06 GMC Sierra Z71 4X4 173,000 miles


Have always taken good care of her, maitenance wise. Well she left me stranded yesterday. Was acting like I ran out of gas. Gauge still marking 1/4 tank. Towed it home!


Tried all the trouble shooting I could. Banged on the tank, Trys turning over. Can barely hear the fuel pump cycling, SOB!

This morning I pull the bed off. Not by myself. Get the fuel pump out. I take a peek into the gas tank. WTF, now I feel like a jackass. Tank is Empty


Clean out what little bit of debris is in the tank. Drop 5 gallons of petro in, get the fuel pump wired back up. Fires rite up!


Gauge hasn't moved, still only marking 1/4 tank.

Bad float on fuel pump?
Gauge going bad inside the cab?
 
Likely
So top it off,reset your trip meter
and start looking for gas every 250 miles.
If it doesn't square up in a week or so you can look into corrective measures.
Had an 02 and 07 both do the same thing.
Last GM I'll ever own.
 
There are a few things it could be.  
 
I would follow the advice above before you start going through the painstaking process of troubleshooting an electrical system, sensor, and instrument panel.  
 
I would keep a reserve 5 gallons of fuel in the bed strapped down. - most trucks have mounting locations for ladder racks on the right side of the bed.  Just use those to anchor the tank.   
 
Get an OBD scanner that can show you fuel levels.
 
If you fill up and it shows 90%+(they NEVER show 100%) than the in tank sender is working and its down stream of that.
 
If you fill up and it still shows 10%(or something way less than 90% that OBVIOUSLY cant be correct) than IMO points to the sender in the tank.
 
Most of the time with GM's it is the fuel level sender on the pump assembly that will cause an incorrect gauge reading.  Though I have seen the gauge cluster itself go bad and cause this problem.  You could pull the pump out, use an ohm meter to test resistance on the two wires that are the fuel level circuit as you move the level arm and compare it to the values of a new one, which should be in the range of 30 - 250 (IIRC).
 
On older Chevy, I've seen the float just kind of bind up on the way down.  Then you fill it up and the next time it goes down it might clear the rough spot.
 
Does the dash gauge move when the ignition is off?
How about when the battery is disconnected?
And do the other dash gauges move at this time?
 
If the other indicators move, but the gas dial doesn't, I'd suspect the sender. 
 
I should have also posted that there is another fairly easy and quick way to diagnose if it's a cluster issue or a bad sender.  That is swapping the gauge with a known good unit from a friends truck.  Being that those generation of GM's are very common, you may know someone who has a truck with the same cluster.  The trim pops off very easy around the cluster and the cluster is just held in with 4 (I think) screws.  Plug it in and start the vehicle and see if the gauge reads correctly.  
 
Magged Out said:
06 GMC Sierra Z71 4X4 173,000 miles


Have always taken good care of her, maitenance wise. Well she left me stranded yesterday. Was acting like I ran out of gas. Gauge still marking 1/4 tank. Towed it home!


Tried all the trouble shooting I could. Banged on the tank, Trys turning over. Can barely hear the fuel pump cycling, SOB!

This morning I pull the bed off. Not by myself. Get the fuel pump out. I take a peek into the gas tank. WTF, now I feel like a jackass. Tank is Empty


Clean out what little bit of debris is in the tank. Drop 5 gallons of petro in, get the fuel pump wired back up. Fires rite up!


Gauge hasn't moved, still only marking 1/4 tank.

Bad float on fuel pump?
Gauge going bad inside the cab?
Click to expand...
 
 
My very first car had a muffler fall off while I was driving. Really made a bunch of noise and a big bump as I ran over it. Soon thereafter, I ran out of gas at 1/4 tank and had it towed to the shop. They put gas in it and it was fine. A little while later it died again at 1/4 tank. Same issue. Same solution. When I got the car back, I crawled under the car and noticed a huge dent in the gas tank which was right behind the muffler............... I never drove it down to 1/4 tank again. :rolleyes:
 
Vicious Vex said:
Mine loves the oil light. 
Click to expand...
 
Mine will drive over a rough patch of road and immediately call me to tell me her car is making funny noises.
 
Same thing while I'm with her. She hits a bump in the road... "did you hear that?!"
 
Me: "umm... yeah. I felt it too. It was a bump in the road."  :rolleyes:
 
I guess it's better than running out of oil though...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top