Truck is 5spd 2wd dual tank and has a 4.9 im inheriting the truck in April so prepare for stupid question i have never dealt with a ford this old. Well here is the beef the front tank works only when it feels like it might be 3 minutes or 10 minutes then it dies and the fuel gauge swings on the front tank. The back tanks works fine but it will read full when filled completely then after it burns 5 gallons the gauge swings all the over then when the truck is turned off and level the gauge is still and shows how much fuel is in the tank. Now onto that blasted stock radio yeah it kinda works and is a little haunted the blasted clock stays on and after 1 month it drains the battery. That is the only source i found pulling 12 volts with the key off probing around with my multimeter need to find a way to kill the clock. Can any tell what i can do to fix these problems because other than that it is a good truck,very easy on fuel and i would rather drive this than my gas drinking old chevy.
Most common problem in fuel gauges are the sending units. Although sometimes it may be the gauges in the instrument cluster or the transfer switch. My research shows the senders should read 70-75 ohms when full and 0-2 ohms when empty. PITA, but the sending wires could be checked in the harness coming off the sending unit. To get an accurate reading, the wiring needs to be disconnected from the sending unit. Another test for gauge accuracy would be to place a 100 ohm resistor across the disconnected sending unit wires and check the needle position on the gauge. It should read way past full using a 100 ohm 1/2 watt resistor. Sorry I don't have the color codes for 1988 F250 yet. If the sending unit checks good at the tank suspect a poor ground. If the ohms at the sending unit aren't right, bad sending unit. Some people would take the bed off than drop a tank. I would rather drop an empty tank to replace a sending unit. Stock Ford radios are the easiest to replace. Maybe another working stock radio could be found cheap at a salvage yard rather than spending alot of cash for an aftermarket radio? Is the clock separate from the radio or is it integrated in the radio?
the clock is integrated in the radio been trying to figure out which fuse it is because the fuse panel diagram is missing
i pulled the clock/radio fuse and now it stopped pulling power so i guess i might drop a cd player in it and add some cheap speakers in the door.
