Greets all.
Fuel gage on my '98 XJ is nuts. Depends what side of the bed it
got up on. Sometimes I'm full, sometimes I'm empty. EVERYTIME
I fill up the tank it takes a good 10 minutes for it even to realize
there's more gas in there.

I'm wondering if cleaning the sender could help?

Where is the sender anyway? I mean, I know its in the tank, but
to get to the tank, do I have to drop the whole thing from underneath
or is there access to it somewhere else? (under the back seats?).

Is this a futile attempt?

 

sounds like the float gets stuck. You have to replace the fuel sending unit. The units on our tanks are accessible from the front of the tank, no need to drop the tank.

 

Thanks for that info! I have the same problem, and if it required dropping the tank, i'd rather just track my mileage. However, if it doesn't require dropping the tank, i'll replace the sending unit.

 

dukie.. d*mn, that was fast!

hey I left out a little bit, might be important.. this is a 2.5TD diesel engine.
I'm guessing everything is the same expect the engine. Thing I don't know
is: my tank / system pressurized? am I going to get air someplace it don't
wanna be?

 

 

Depending on how hacked you want things to be, and what you can fix on your own, I've heard of people cutting floors to gain access to the fuel pump in their vehicles.

This can be particularly useful if you know your tank straps or hardware can't take being messed with.

Obviously if you can get at the pump without dropping the tank you wouldn't need to do anything like this, but its a useful bit of information, something to think about.

I've even seen some go as far as making a door/hatch over the opening for the fuel pump.

 

no the tank won't be pressurized if the vehicle is off. No worries about air getting in spots. I'm sure the sending unit for diesel will be different than the petrol version.

BTW sweet find on the diesel!

 

I have a petrol 4.0 L Jeep Sport, 1998, and I have a similar problem, although it's not as severe as described above, the fuel gauge does do some odd things now and then.

Based on my manual and what I found on this forum, I thought it would be a relative simple job, as I thought I could pull the whole sender unit off the front of the tank. However, when I crawled underneath my Jeep it became very obvious that the unit is mounted on top and I will need to drop the tank!

Did Jeep use different designs on the ''98" XJ?

Jeroen