Working on my 92 Dodge Dakota

[Username1]

Fuel gauges etc. on american cars are temperature "heat and stay" gauges....
Or "Averaging" Gauges. So they don't show dips and spikes as you move...

My dakota gauge keeps the last reading when you turn it off... That means it has
a small oil reserve inside the gauge itself, and does not allow the gauge to return
to zero with no power... They may even do it some other way on some cars....

Sampling readings are done using a "blinker" like devise on the dash, put your volt
meter across the resistor in the tank and you should see pulses not a constant
voltage.

I don't trust mechanics anymore. I have had too many problems long term that
they are unable to properly diagnose and repair, and it costs hundreds each time
they change a part till they stumble on the right one that may eventually fix the
problem....

Unfortunately, they way to really fix things is to learn how it works, and fix it yourself.
You have to figure out how your system works, and then see if you can test things
to see if the evidence you have collected matches the description of how it works....

.

[MRX37]

Originally Posted by Username1

Unfortunately, they way to really fix things is to learn how it works, and fix it yourself.
You have to figure out how your system works, and then see if you can test things
to see if the evidence you have collected matches the description of how it works....

I have a surprise for you. The only reason I had a mechanic replace the fuel pump is because I couldn't physically lift the bed off my truck and do it myself. But thanks for giving me an excuse to brag about the work I have done on my truck over the last 4 years that I've owned it:


Lets see maybe I'll start with the drivers side fender replacement. As the attached pics show, I got a fender and wheel well from Parts Galore, painted them, and put them on myself.


Then maybe we can move on to my dashboard light mod, where I replaced the burnt out dashboard bulbs with blue LED's, then made diffusers out of a piece of translucent plastic I cut off a tea jug to make the lighting more even across the gauge cluster.

Or the time, back when it had the last transmission, when I lost reverse gear, dropped the pan, changed the fluid and filter, and got reverse back, admittedly to my amazement. Later I had a NOS trans from a 95 Dakota put in.

Or the time my alternator went out, so I checked around and discovered that Chrysler has used that same basic alternator design for every truck and SUV they've made in the last 20+ years, so I went to Parts Galore, pulled a good one off a 2004 Durango, which was rated higher to boot, paid maybe $20 for it, put it in and haven't had a problem since.

Or something more recent, like discovering my floorpan was rusting out, removing the seats and carpeting, washing 20 years of dirt out of that carpeting, cleaning up the rust, then bondoing the holes and coating the area with 2 coats of primer and two coats of paint.


Oh I could go on and on. I have a lot of stories about that truck. The things I've discovered inside it, the near miracles I have achieved to keep it on the road. The repairs I have managed to accomplish by myself with little money. The times where if things gone just a bit differently, the truck would have caught fire...


Wow... typing all that brought back a lot of memories.


Oh and by the way you are completely wrong about how fuel gauges work. Your Dakota's fuel gauge is all electronic. There is no oil reserve in it.