The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay New Fuel Gauge and Sender Still Not Working

I did a search and read many posts on the fuel gauge issuues. I still need help. I purchased a new 12V dash fuel gauge and a new 30ohm tank sender. With the sender hooked up directly with jumpers to the gauge and also directly grounded to the battery my new gauge does not move. I read that the dash gauge needs to be grounded to the bezel but when I removed the old one I did not see a ground so i put the new back the same way. So I almost have a whole setup removed from the truck that I can't get to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here is exactley what I have: keyed +12V into terminal closest to E on the dash gauge, jumper wire from terminal closest to F on the dash gauge to the terminal on new 30 ohm sender, jumper wire from sender mounting flange to neg side of battery. I move the sender up and down and my gauge stays empty. If I directly ground the gauge no movement, if I leave it disconnected no movement. I did verify it is getting 11.90V.

Rcimp,

Is there a full moon somewhere! As you can probably see the forum is plugged up with fuel gauge problems, all of which I have commented on and none of which have been resolved. You did your homework well. At this point it looks like your fuel gauge is no good.

The internal ground for the gauge should be the case itself...no need for anything special other than no gobs of old paint or what not that might insulate it. The only thing I can think of is to take the sending unit out of the tank and verify its function with a ohmmeter (sp). If it works, that's one component off the list.

I have had patch cords/jumpers that didn't 'bite' well and confused the troubleshoot. Maybe yours have terminals on the ends and are connected securely. You have read the procedure for testing the gauge itself. I would take your supply of jumpers and, using the trucks battery, do a 'no guess' test on the meter. Be sure to bond the case somehow to the - side of the battery. Power it off the + side and use the - side or the grounded case as the sending unit connection.

It takes the gauge, sender, wires connecting them together and to ground for the system to read properly. Let us know what happens...I keep looking around for Allen Funt and his hidden camera.

Stuart

Rcimp,Stuart..you know what,,,as you have read i am one of those that is mistified about the gas sender unit problems...2 wires...2 dam wires ...you know what I mean.As soon as I get my ignition unlocked, I am going to devote my time to my gas guage ...sender unit problem...I am going to write down EXACTLY what I do..step by step and figure this out. My Clutch screws on my sender are starting to strip out..I do remember someone saying do not put teflon tape around the threads of the sender to the gas line cause you may not get a good ground,so thats my first stop.Wish me luck guys...I am going in.

Rcimp & Mike , When you look at the back of your gauge cluster where the fuel gauge segment goes there are 3 holes. The 2 outer holes have your power lead, and the sender wire. The center hole will have access to the ground terminal. Take your ohm meter and check for continuity between the center hole and the cluster outer attachment lugs. This was where I had the most trouble. Ended up taking the segment out and sanding the inside of the cluster to get good ground contact. My troubles aren't over, but at least I got the gauge to read. Let us know what you find.

Will do.....

I got my Guage to read...My ignition cylander was locked up. I stuck a wire in it just to turn the key over.. When I did that the guage moved from totaly pegged to read full. I started the truck and the guage went to right above empty. I put in 10$ of gas and the needle did not move. Now....If you are looking at my guage,The wire from the sender is on the left post of the guage, and the wire that goes to the igni. is on the right. it was reversed... in other woords I switched sides,When I did this it went and read full. My ammeter is working..and my oil guage is working.My temp guage I think is working..although i do not think I let it get to operating temp. I also want to add that all this movement on the gas guage came without the sender unit being grounded. When i Grounded the Unit..Nothing happened..it did not move at all. So that is were I am at. M/G

My gas guage is now working...I pulled the sendung unit wire,and Inspected it.It was a little brittle..some cracks here and there,and it was wedged under the gas tank.I think it was krimped. I used 12 guage Black wire..Thats all I had left. and I also replaced the ground wire. At first it stayed pegged..then it moved to a bit above 1/4..then I juiced the gas a bit and it almost made it to 1/2 a tank. Whie it was running i added mor gas to the tank and the Guage climbed to a little above half full. so far so good..

Thanks for the replys, I am going to take my gauge to work and play with it. I have access to power supplies and potentiometers so I can simulate the sender and I can control the current flow. I let you all know if I found out anything.

When I fill my gas tank I note the mileage and add 175. I put that number on a piece of paper on the dash and when my odometer gets to it or near to that number I fill the tank. My present gauge reads low and then whe full it can read empty. Hit a bump and it reads somewhere in between.

olblu ....I have tossed this around in other post (gas guage)...I had taken my tank out,and when I put it back I krimped my sender wire,replaced it and grounded the ground wire to the frame. I also put in a new guage a while back. My readings are right on.My sender wire was also brittle in spots..ect... anyway,just another thing for folks to look at as there are many GAS GUAGE PROBLEMS here in electracal forum. M/G

I fixed mine real quick,,,,,,,I installed a s/w under the dash

That was going to be my last resort joker...and i was about there...I got lucky

I just bought dolphin gauges and haven't installed their sender in my tank yet. My tank is a 2 yr old fuel cel from Speedway with a new sender in it. Is the Dolphin sender different and need replacing the old one?

Alan can answer that Question...he has the lowdown on the Dolphin guages.

Alan, You there? haven't seen a post from him for awhile. vacation?

RCIMP MY old sender worked so I have a brand new one I can't use. Trade it for a 6 pack.

gazim...where is eagle michigan...

About 15 miles n/w of Lansing, in the center of the state.

I have a brand new sender and gauge, I can't get them to work on the bench let alone in the truck.

On the bench: one wire from V+ (six or twelve volts, depending on gauges) to the + terminal on the gauge, a wire between the sending unit and the other terminal on the gauge, and a ground wire from your power source to the base of the sending unit and another ground wire to the case of the gauge. Move the sending unit lever from full to empty and check the gauge.

Rcimp,

You said you were going to take them to work and do a bench test...is this were they don't want to 'do their thing'. Sometimes hooking stuff up with a maze of jumpers and power supplies get things more confused than just doing it in the truck.

Break the problem into two parts. The sending unit is easy. If you connect a ohmmeter between the flange (ground) and the terminal then move the float up and down, the meter should move. The sender has 0 to 30 ohms of resistance. Any meter scale should move but the K1 scale should read much closer...if the needle moves, the sender is good. This can be done on the workbench.

The second item is the gauge...duh! This procedure was outlined above before. If you power the gauge, ground its case to common on that same power source the gauge should read FULL. If you attach a jumper to the sending unit terminal on the back of the gauge and touch it to the same ground the case is hooked to, the gauge should swing to EMPTY.

If this doesn't work, you are doing it incorrectly or the gauge is no good. I'm pretty sure you will get the sender to work. This is a simple test if you are careful about getting good contact from your temporary wiring.

I'll bet you could attach your meter to the power terminal and the sending unit terminal of the fuel gauge and check for continuity (resistance scale-K) too. I don't know what the resistance would be, but it will move the needle on one of the scales for sure. This should also work between the power terminal and a shiny spot on the case. Now you can do all the troubleshooting with just a simple multi-meter...no jumpers or power supplies. Let us know what happens.

Stuart

Thanks atomarc, I have't taken it to work yet, I have started online classes and time is scarce now. I will try what you said above.

R