Gas gauge

[tresvn]

 I fill the tank in the truck I can go 80 to 100 miles or so before the needle even moves a little bit. My low fuel light comes on at 1/8 on the gauge.  I really don't mind just trying to figure out if the gauge is off, I'd hate to have the light come on as I'm running out of gas.  Is this normal? Does anyone else's gauge work like this? tia

[dhvaughan]

my 01 does the same thing.  the last "half" of the tank runs out pretty fast, much faster than the first "half".  my low fuel also comes on at 1/8, but if i fill it up right then, it only takes about 22 gal to fill the 26 gal tank.  i've run it down to the E, and been able to put in about 24 gal.

fill yours as soon as the low fuel light comes on, and you can verify how much gas it takes.  my low fuel light is very consistent, coming on exactly at the 1/8 mark.  yours will probably do the same.

[Motorbrreath]

hell at least yours works... mine wont even regester.

[CowboyBob]

Wasn't the fuel sending unit a common problem on the 2nd gen trucks?  I seem to rememebr seeing some place that the float would break or something like that.  It caused the readeings to be off when the tank got low.

[jason.w]

From my reading, it seems the sending unit is a problem in both 2nd Generation Rams and 2nd Generation Dakotas.  (model years 1994-2001 and 1992-1997 respectively). 

My 1995 Dakota, before my Ram, had the sending unit go out on it.  The dealer quoted me $300 just for the part... ha, took it to a shop I trusted, they fixed it for about $200-$250.