The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Gas Sender Stumper!

I have done a search for this, maybe not far enough back, but I searched pretty thorough.

The gauge will only read from EMPTY to HALF-FULL. I took the sender out, applied power and grounded it. I then would move the float arm back and for the whole range. The gauge would read the whole range from EMPTY to FULL. I would then re-install the sender and it would only read up to half. I just filled up today! The one thing I think it may be is the ground. When I re-installed it, it wasn't even grounded and it read HALF-FULL. I attached the ground wire and it changed nothing.

So what is the deal here? Do I have a ground problem? Because the gauge and sender work without the ground wire attached.

Have I stumped ya'll or what?

if it reads [wrong] when in place there's nothing wrong with the ground - if it reads [right] when moved manually, the float is being held in the wrong position - I'd bend the arm so that when the tank's full it reads full and see what it reads when the tank's empty

Bill

ApacheFiend,

Cannot believe it, but I have the same issue. Rebuilt cluster, new sender they tell me was even calibrated - I only get to half full on a full tank of fuel. Maybe someone knows!

actually mambo, it's a real common issue - so the next check is as soon as the gauge reads Empty, stop and fill it to see how much it takes to refill ... I'm bettin it'll be about 8-10 gallons

then do as I suggested above and with a full tank, bend the float arm until it reads a full tank when in place

Bill

Red58-

You know when my tank reads Empty, it does only take about 8-11 gallons or so. Im gonna double check it on this fill up and I will try bending to correct the issue. Thanks alot Red!

Red, been gone awhile :-(

I cannot get the thing to measure full even by hand. I have a ground wire on the sender, I pull it out, push it all the way up, still at half - or just above. I was told from BowTiebits that the gauge was calibrate and it is hard to believe that I have had this same issue with 2 different rebuild gauges and two different senders. It really is not rocket science but it has me baffled.

maybe the wire rubbed raw and 'grounding' between the sender and gauge? sender wrong resistance value?

Bill

This sounds to me like a problem with the guage, not the sender. The guage case itself needs to have a good ground to operate. Take a jumper wire with alligator clips and just clip between the guage case and a good ground and see if the needle will move to full when the sender is all the way up. If it does, either make a good mechanical ground to the dash, or just run a permanent ground jumper. Hope this helps.

I found out my sender was for a 54 not a 50. Works now Virg

Well, here is what I am going to do this weekend. I will run a ground wire to the gauge and a new one to the sender and a different wire from the gauge to the sender. The wires are new but in the painting of the truck something “could” have happened. I will post then. Thanks for the suggestions!

Well I guess I have learned to live with my gauge even though I don’t like it. I was told by bowtiebits that the sender and gauge were calibrated for each other. I ran new wires, I checked voltage, still full of fuel, gauge reads just above half. I am lost.

you might try bending the float arm, to fool it into thinkin it's full - when it is
try the unit out of the tank [held against a ground] to see if the full range of the gauge reads ehile you manually move the float, if there's a position it reads full, bending it should work, then you just have to figure out what reading means empty .... carry a gas can until you run out

Bill

Sometimes you just give up! I would guess your at that point and don't blame you one bit. Remember there is always a silver lining in every cloud and we should always seek to see something positive in every event. It is a good think you can tell when you are about to run out of fuel. Now isn't that a positive thought?

I had this same problem with my sending unit. Grounding it to the cab instead of the tank seemed to fix it.