My 83 Dodge van has a 36 gallon gas tank. The other day i put 25 gallons in and the gas gauge reads full. However, I know I can fit another 11 gallons in the tank. The gauge travels smoothly down the rest of the gauge as gas is used.

What causes this and is there any way I can correct the gauge to show "Full" only when the true full 36 gallons have been put into the tank?

Put a longer arm on the sender unit and adjust or don't worry about it.

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Possible sender/tank mismatch

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Hmm. Okay. I am fairly certain it is all original, but I will run this tank dry and then check if the sending unit is original. Wait a minute. Ugh. On vans the sending unit is on top of the tank. So I have to pull the tank to check. I guess I just won't worry about it or I will cut a hole in the floor over the tank to get at the sender.

Confirmed: 22- and 36-gallon tanks use different senders per '82-'83 FPC.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

If it's accurate in the lower part of the range I wouldn't worry about it.

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David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

Yeah, it just bugs me. But it seems like almost every car I have ever owned does this- it sits on F for a long time, and then works normally. Maybe I just overfill my tanks?

what? you mean you started with an empty tank when you put the 25 gallons in? had to be if you "know" that you have room for 11 more gallons.

Good point. I guess I need to drive it till it drops, then count from there.

My 83 with 36gal tank sorta works like that I guess.Top half goes down fairly quick,bottom half seems to move slower.Even at 1/4 it only takes 22-23 gals,I figure it's just a built in safety margin plus at 3 bucks+ a gal it would hurt more to be putting in another 30+ bucks.It's just a feel good game I play with mine That and my Dad always said "It's just as easy to keep the top half full as the bottom half" so 1/2 is my empty.

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83 B-150 slant 6,4 speed. 79 B-300 360 pathfinder 4x4. 74 W-300 318 4x4 git-r-done 80 B-100 sl6,4speed

Yeah, that's why I only pumped 25 gallons. Most gas pumps around where I live will only let you pump $75 worth of gas at one go. So to do a full fill up I need to put in $75, then restart the pump. Annoying.