Topic: fuel gauge trouble on 87 4-runner

[crawlingyoat]

 

[Bloomcounty]

Looks like he had alittle trouble postin lets help him out anyway !! anybody got a suggestions ? 

[86turboyota]

my 88 does something similar.. but mine doesnt go to empty until about 150-175 miles... so at half a tank it drops to empty... always been that way.. same thing happens on a buddy of mines.... ive always been told its the float in the tank that is the problem.

[Plowking]

Would say check the float in the gas tank. It could be a an electrical problem with the float and the resistance being sent to fuel gauge itself. Do you have a spare gauge or cluster to compare the difference?

Good luck

[Phazertwo]

I would be willing to bet that your sending unit is bad.  See it all the time at work.  At a certin point in the restiors it goes dead.  Yours happends to be after you have burnt 100mi worth of gas.  Not sure how much a new sending unit is, but you could probley junk yard one...
PZ

Edit: I voted for fuel gauge p!

[rage]

i have an 86 corolla that when stays at full for 35-40 miles, then goes empty. then at half tank it works again and is accurate until empty. never figured it out.

[olemisstoy88]

Mine does the samething. I was told its a float thing. is it an easy fit?

[tintop]

Mine does the samething. I was told its a float thing. is it an easy fit?

if you have a carb motor is a mechanical your going to have to drop the tank.. not fun.. thats why i havent done it yet.. my gauge does not even work..it sucks

[Plowking]

The biggest problem I dealt with was rusted out bolts on top of tank holding fuel pump assembly. Pain in the ass. All the hole ended up getting drilled out and brass bolts used

[rage]

lift bed with a friend instead of droping the tank.

[rage]

oops, my bad, you gots a 4runner. regardless, i hate tank droppin

[BigMike]

Isn't this a Toyota design issue?

The range on my 1987 Toyota MR2 (with my SC engine) would be around 200 miles (on 9 gallons) under daily driving.

Gauge Reading	Total Distance Travelled
Full -> Half	~100 Miles
Half -> Quarter	~180 Miles
Quarter -> Empty	200 Miles or Ran out of fuel

So it was weird because I could go 180 miles on 3/4 tank, but then on the remaining 1/4 tank, I would only get about another 10 or 20 miles and then I would be risking running it dry.

Same thing happens on my 1981 Toyota Hilux (using a 1991 V6 ExtraCab 18.4 Gallon tank and sender with 1981 Hilux guage):

Gauge Reading	Total Distance Travelled
Needle Pegged --> Right on 'F' line	~120 Miles
F-line --> Half Tank	~160 Miles
Half --> 'E' line	~220 Miles
E-line --> Bone Dry	~260 Miles

So my guage on my '81 will stay absolutely pegged way above Fuel Tank for 120 miles, every time. Then the gauge will drop like a rock to about half tank after an additional 40 miles or so.. Then it will stay around 1/4 gauge for quite a while and finally get to about 220, or an additional 60 miles when its on the E-line. Then I can still get a good 40 miles when the needle is well below the E-line.

On my MR2, I just figured that Toyota wanted it to drop quick when it was nearly empty to prevent people from trying to drive on an empty tank, which is a great idea because that will prolong the life of the fuel pump. But with the V6 tank, it is nearly the opposite, but that could just be that I am not using a V6 gauge, and despite the resistance being the same, the markings on the gauge will differ I'm sure

Interesting though.. It seems that every Toyota I've driven has a fuel gauge that reacts differently.

BigMike