The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Fuel Gauge Problem

My fuel gauge doesn't work in my '53 3100....I changed the sending unit, checked all the wiring and made sure I had power to the gauge.....the gauge still doesn't register. I know the tank is full. Is there anyting else to do before I order a new gauge?

There's a couple of things to check first. Take the sender wire (the one coming from the guage) off at the tank and let it dangle in the air. Turn the key on - the guage, if working correctly, will go to "full". If it does go to full, check the wiring at the tank sender, there was a post here a few weeks ago where the wiring was reversed (the sender wire went to the ground clip and the ground wire went to the sender),

If the guage doesn't register full when you remove the sender wire, the trouble points back towards the guage. Carefully check that wire all the way back to the guage, it could be pinched and grounded somewhere. Check the wiring behind the guage, and also, the guage case has to be grounded to the dash, either by a ground wire or a good mechanical ground.

Try running a seperate ground to the sending unit from a good ground than you can ground out the sending unit mount and if it still doesn't work you can try grounding out the sending unit post,where the wire from the gauge is on, if the gauge is still not working it could be the gauge,or the wire from the gauge to the sending unit if it works when you ground out the sending unit than you'll know it's the ground . also check the ohms on the sender I got one from a hot rod shop and installed it and it did not work so I checked it with my ohm meter and it truned out to be the wrong ohm,10-75 ohm, the box it came in was right but the unit was the wrong one

Pete

Still no luck....trying a few more things....thanks for the info!

" . . . Take the sender wire (the one coming from the gauge off at the tank and let it dangle in the air. Turn the key on - the gauge, if working correctly, will go to "full". . . "

Did you do this test?
Did the gauge read "full"?

The gauge read empty.

Disconnect the gauge lead on the sending unit post and check that wire for voltage. This will check if there is power from the gauge to the sending unit. Don't forget to turn on the ignition switch when checking for voltage. Let me know what you get and we will continue.

If you have power going into the gauge and the sender wire is not connected to the gauge, the gauge is most likely bad (as per waldo53's original suggestion).

By any chance has your electrical system been changed to 12v?

I will do that vtmlro and let you know what I find out. tclederman....as for my system being 12V....I have a 12V battery.

A 12v battery/system, with an unprotected 6v fuel gauge, and the fuel gauge does not go to full when disconnected from the sender?

As waldo53 states above, if the dash unit (the gauge) is properly grounded, it looks like you have a bad gauge (perhaps burned out from use with 12v).