The Stovebolt Site Forums Welcome! Welcome Centre Do It Yourself (DITY) Gallery 1946 Chevy 1/2Ton in Utah - "Here We Go"

My gauge does nothing. When I turn on the key, the needle barely moves to the left - barely. I probably have the gauge wired incorrectly. ☹ Now searching to verify which terminal gets the power and which side gets the wire from the sending unit. I do have the 12v to 6v voltage reducer installed.

The voltage reducer should have come with instructions on which end of the gauge to install it.

I've never seen a '46 instrument panel. On the '48 to '53 panel the terminal nearest the "E" on the gauge is connected to 6 volts and the terminal nearest the "F" is connected to the sending unit.

I'm searching here and online and it's confusing. I see people saying both versions. Power to E and power to F., sending wire on either side. I don't have the little RED tag that says to "Connect the Sending Wire Here". Originally I have the power and voltage reducer behind the F. I thought I researched this before and connected this way. With the fuel gauge not working, I'm now questioning this. I'm doing some more searching and reading. This is so frustrating. ☹

Last night I read several instructions that say to wire the power to the terminal behind the "F" (passenger side) and the sending wire to the terminal behind the "E" (driver side). This is how I originally had it wired. So, I'm going to test the Ohms on the sending unit and may have to remove it from the gas tank.

Bill, The 12v conversion kit came with two voltage reducers. I don't remember, but I'll see if there were instructions.

"1. The gauge has two main terminals:

Passenger side (driver’s side from the back of the gauge): This is the positive (B+) terminal, connected to the ignition circuit. It has a red paper tag under the bottom securing nut (The Stovebolt Forums).

Driver side (passenger’s side from the back): This is the sending unit terminal, connected to the tank sender (The Stovebolt Forums).

2. Wiring connections

Positive (B+): Run a solid wire from the ignition switch (or ammeter) to the passenger side terminal of the gauge.

Sending unit: Run a solid wire from the driver side terminal of the gauge to the sending unit on the fuel tank.

Ground: The sending unit and the gauge itself should have their own clean chassis grounds (Vintage Chevrolet Club)."

on my trucks ,it says IF the wires have been crossed and used... the gauge might fry.

I found the other reducers and the instructions just say you mount it to the terminal on the gauge that receives power from the ignition switch, which I believe I have done. I did follow their trouble shooting steps and verified good ground, power from the ignition switch to gauge, wire from gauge to sending unit, good ground at sending unit. Tank has 2-3 gallons of gas the ohm reading on the sending unit to ground is 1.5 ohms. I haven't decided if I'm removing the sending unit just yet, but might be my next step to see if moving the float up/down changes ohm readings. Just got to keep working on one item at a time and hopefully get them corrected. Looks like a great day here to open up the garage door, turn on some music and try to enjoy some time working on this old truck.

I've seen some pictures of that label. Hope it doesn't come down to that.

Me too. I might at this point , take the sending unit out and check for operation and accuracy.
I would guess your ground is good ,if not that would peg the needle full. The fact the needle even moved suggest to me
the voltage or ohms are not correct. good luck

The confusing part is when I see a picture like this and it says to connect the sending wire to the inner terminal (passenger side)? I saw this on Ebay from Classy Chev USA.

I'm going to ask in the Electrical section to see if anyone knows for certain.

Well, I believe my fuel gauge is toast.🙁 Dang it! I did lots of testing today - fuel gauge, fuel sending unit, alternator, excite wire,...

1) Fuel Gauge - My gauge wasn't working and I've seen conflicting instructions on how to wire it. At first, the needle would move a little to the left when I turn the key ON. (I have about 3-4 gallons of gas in the tank). So thinking it might be reversed wired, I swap the connections and the fuse blew when turning the key ON. If I disconnected the gauge, the fuse would hold. Wired to either terminal, fuse would blow.

2) Sending Unit - I removed sending unit for testing. Moving the float arm up and down causes different ohm resistance up to 30+ ohms. So I believe the sender is OK. I also verified continuity on the wire from the sending unit to the dash and it is good. Grounding wire is good also.

3) Current alternator (23 years old, but new) was charging the battery at 15.5 - 16.2 volts. Not sure why? I took it Autozone today and it bench tested Good. I bought the same Duralast DL7127M alternator (it was in stock) to test. I installed it and it was charging at 15.3 volts. I'm thinking that's still too high?

4) Excite Wire - I tried to test for continuity, but no luck. Does the diode in the line prevent continuity testing? I did connect 12 volts to it under the dash, but got up and down voltage readings next to the alternator? I'm not positive how the excite wire works, but I believe it's supposed to tell the alternator to start charging.

Truck does start up and run, so I'm happy about that. I just need to figure these little gremlins one at a time. I'll start looking for some replace gauges, maybe even buy a new dash the has a 12 volt fuel gauge and 0-60 pounds on the oil pressure.

Forgot about the Temp gauge not working, but if I replace the cluster, it doesn't matter right now. I'll keep treading water! I appreciate everyone's help - ALWAYS!

To test my original temp gauge, I took the whole sad looking instrument cluster into the kitchen and put the sensor bulb into some boiling water...and it worked!

Thanks Nick. I'll give that a try tomorrow.

durn. there is so much about these trucks that is simple. Thats what attracts me opposed to
my new 2018 truck.
If you get a new ALT , get a one wire. Try and eliminate all the extras. Dummy lights and fuses.
Yeah thats to much Volts to charge.
Did you check the fuel gauge and sending unit together? Pull the unit out, hook up to the gauge and ground to the dash.

I thought about a 1-wire alternator. I read it could drain your battery, but adding a cutoff switch can fix that? Not sure which is better?

Fuel Gauge - I've wired it both ways with the sending unit and all it does now is blow the fuse. Sending unit is testing OK.

you can read a bunch of things. but applying it is the real. All 3 of my trucks have a one wire and grounded to the frame

Are your alternators all the same model? I don't mind changing things. When I go to the parts store, they always ask what year and model, but that doesn't apply for my truck. My 235 comes from a 1960 Chevy C10 and I don't know if they had alternators back then or what to ask for.

pretty much all the version of a Delco Remy 10SI .
I don`t think you need a 100amp. 80 amp would work.

Update: I was able to fix my alternator overcharging issue. Looks like my DA plug was incorrectly assembled. I swapped the wires and it looks like that fixed the issues. Late last night I was watching a YouTube video and when he mentioned an overcharging issue, I checked my DA plug and who ever assembled it at 5pm on a Friday, must of had a hot date to get to!

Too bad you can't charge the manufacturer an hourly rate for the time you spent in trying to track the problem down!

I wish! Wiring has been a new adventure for me, but it has also been an experience good and bad. So glad these "Stovebolt" gurus are so willing to help me get through each obstacle. So for now I can check one more item of the list.

All the extra work you have to do to correct poorly made parts these days is extraordinarily frustrating

Glad you got it sorted out John! Very much looking forward to the maiden voyage!!!

Slow going here. I had to get some house/yard/auto maintenance completed. I did get my old dash out and getting ready to install the new one. I did check where the temp sensor goes in the engine and I loosened it a little (with a paper towel handy) and a few drops of coolant came out. So I'll drain some out of the radiator and hopefully lower the level enough not to make a mess when changing the sensor. I also watched a YouTube video on "Clocking" the alternator. I didn't like the DA plug being under the exhaust manifold, so I moved it 90 degrees CCW. Should be easier to get to the plug later if needed.

I sure would run the red wire under the black to avoid that crimp there.

Ya. Rotate the red wire 90 degrees clockwise to avoid the kinks. It won't have to cross the other two. It will look better too.

OK - Thanks for the input guys! Now it looks like someone knew what they were doing!

Well done, Grasshopper.

Took some time off to visit family in Colorado. Back now and I got a few small things done on the truck. I ran my three break-in cycles. No leaks after each session, but did add some coolant after the first run. I installed the floor board, but of course I forgot to install the E-Brake grommet that goes UNDER the floor. Oh well, I get that resolved tomorrow. Then, I converted my oil bath air filter to hold a regular paper filter. I still need to install the doors and hood before my test drive. Hopefully I can find a friend to help me with the doors.

John, if you have a halfway decent NAPA store near you, see if they can look up air filters for you by size.

The one near me actually has some paper catalogs that the woman who works there flipped through to find various filters by height and diameter. She's old and has been working their for a long time. She also knows how to read.

I'm sure there's a filter of similar size to your pancake stack.

I do have a NAPA store nearby. I had searched the internet and was having a hard time finding the right air filter. Thanks for the idea. I'll check it out today.

John:

I have a circa 2012 Fram Filter catalog which includes a 19 page "Fram Air Filters By Size" section. I don't think Peggy lets us peons upload .PDF files, especially one that is over the 5 MB max file upload size. This file is 5.6 MB.

I could email the file directly to you. If you want it please post an email address either here or in a PM to me.

Han Man to the rescue!

PM sent. Thanks Bill!

It's in the mail.

I went to two NAPA stores this morning and they could not find anything for me. Well, they did find a filter that might work, but it was $86. I'll wait.

The catalog showed the CA198 filter might work for my situation and I found one on Ebay for $20. So I ordered it and I'll see if it works. Thanks Bill! 👍

I did go back to install the E-brake grommet and then noticed I missed a couple fasteners by the gas pedal. The one that goes down was a little tricky to get started, took everything apart again, re-tapped to clean up the threads and then the fastener was much easier to install.

Awesome. Post the conversion to paper information with filter part number and whatever else needed to be done to the oil bath to make it work for others who wish to convert the same oil bath filter. Any destruction to original components, or was it simply a matter of replacing the mesh with the paper?

There is a topic in Tech Tips section that I read before doing mine. Looks like the same stock bath filter I have. LINK I did modify my original bath filter housing. I've added some additional pictures.

Took time today to install the seat belts. A little struggle getting the seats back in and connected to each other, but not too bad.