Fuel tank sender

[paul78zephyr]

Does anyone know if the fuel tank senders (for the gas gauge) used in a 78 F/Z are also used in any other year F/Z or Mustang or other Fox?Anyone have an Ford part number for the sender?

Thanks,
Paul

[FuturaGuy]

I checked the '79 Fairmont shop manual and the '82 Fairmont/Zephyr EVTM and both show the sending unit resistance FULL at 10 +/- 2 ohms and EMPTY at 73 +/- 13 ohms. I believe these are the same values you gave me one time from your '78 Zephyr shop manual. This weekend I'll check the variable resistor I have left over from an '84-'86 LTD sending unit I converted to work with an '88 Mustang dash. Also have the shop manuals for some other early '80's Fords (Mustang, Escort, etc.) and will check to see if the sending unit values are the same. I'll let you know.

[FuturaGuy]

Took advantage of the lousy weather this weekend and worked inside checking the resistance of the sending unit for an '84-'86 LTD or Marquis. Since I don't have a really good (digital) ohmmeter, I put the sending unit in series with a 200 ohm resistor, connected it to a battery that actually put out 13 volts, and measured the voltage drop across the 200 ohm resistor. The sending unit resistance FULL calculated to 92 ohms and EMPTY was 13 ohms (12.2 volt and 8.9 volt drop respectively). Given the inaccuracies of the meter and the fixed resistor, these values are in line with the 73 and 10 ohm values in the shop manual.

All the Foxes from 1978 thru 1982 use the same variable resistor to operate the fuel gage. I'm not sure whether or not they all use the same sending unit and if they are are interchangeable from one tank to another. Anyone out there know?