Does anyone else have the problem with faulty gas gauges? I mean, it's hasn't just stopped working, it's just off-kilter by about a 1/4 of a tank. This happened on my '79 and my '80

Bottom line..............Gas gauges are about as believable as polititians...
Take heart , it can be adjusted , See a mechanic/ Auot electrician
( it's tricky and instruments are best used ) Al

"Gas gauges are about as believable as polititians..."

I disagree. Gas gauges are far more credible than politicians. A gas gauge always reads somewhere between full and empty, and the tank is always somewhere between full and empty. Even when the gauge reads full and the tank is empty, at least the gauge is referring to the tank

Politicians are never that close to the truth.
--
Don Foster (near Cape Cod, MA)

I used to have the same problem with my '77 242. I found that the fuel sender float in the tank is a hollow plastic ball simular to a ping pong ball. It somehow filled up with fuel causing it to not float properly which gave me a faulty reading. When it was only half full, it would only read half a tank ecause it was halk submerged in the fuel, when it filled completely it always said I had an empty tank. Hope it helps!

gee!! that's helpful! thank you. Is that something you can fix pretty easily? I mean, is it hard to get to? Or would i have to take it to a mechanic? My dad knows his way around cars...

It's really not very hard, at least for my car it wasn't. Open up the trunk and pull the carpet over from the side where the back of the seats are and you should see a metal plate screwed to the car. Unscrew it, this will give you access to the fuel sender unit, there will be hoses connected to it, If you take the hoses off it will be less difficult to pull out of the tank. I was able to get it off with hoses connected. If I recall correctly you should be able to pull it out of the tank by twisting it 90 degrees counter clockwise. you may have to use something to help persuade it to turn as they tend to be fairly tight. Pull it out and check the float, it will be obvious if any fuel has entered the float. I replaced my float with one from a junk yard. If you're real inventive (just remember you are dealing with GASOLINE!) you might be able to drain it and just patch up the hole.