What is in a fuel tank?

Grab a bright flashlight and look in the filler neck. The high power LED ones work good to see what's inside there, even with allot of fuel.

 

Could be the antisiphon cans fell in, mine did.

 

Do not drop the FLASHLIGHT into the tank like I saw a driver do 1 night at a truck stop

 

the tank is most likely aluminum, the parts for fuel gauge most likely will not be made of aluminum, get a magnet on a stick or on a string, go fishing.

 

I've only had the gauge sending unit out and apart on a Pete, it was a plastic float setup, and depending on if you're a top draw or bottom draw I guess it could be an issue for blocking the pickup?

You'd have to be on some pretty darn smooth roads though to keep form jostling that stuff around, I don't think that that is your issue.

May be handy if you had one of those little lighted inspection lights and cameras with a 2 foot or so whip to get in there and see what's going on.

 

A friend of mine driving a dump truck was not sure how much fuel he had. He had pulled into his brothers service station on Main Street. So he pulled his cigarettes lighter out of his pocket held it close to the fuel cap opening while bending down to look into his fuel tank to see how much fuel he had.

A great big flash came out of his fuel tank, and it burnt his face, his brother had to take him to the hospital.

Thankfully it did not hurt his eyes permanently, but it did leave some scars on his face. He learned a very good lesson that evening and I don't believe he ever did that again.

Talking about looking down in a fuel tank reminded of this, some people do some real stupid things.

 

could be one of the baffles broke loose. like on mine. it clangs when I stop.