The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay fuel gauge replacement

The fuel gauge on my '51 wasn't working so I ordered a new one. I put the new one on and reconnected the battery. When I turned the key the gauge started burning and the cab filled with smoke. I hurried and turned the key off and disconnected the battery. When the smoke cleared I had burned the gauge and the wire from the ignition to the fuel gage. It still has the original wiring and a new wiring harnes is my project come spring. I like to give it another try but don't want to burn my truck up. I'm sure someone knows what I did wrong

Are you talking about the gauge? Not the tank sender right? One wire goes from the pig on back of cluster to ignition acc. The other heads to the tank sender. Sounds like maybe you may have had a cut in the wire from the ignition switch to gauge wire which was touching the part of the dash and started melting quickly..just a guess. Kinda hard to check that now since the wire is burned. I ALWAYS check the wire I am using to make sure it is still pliable and not hard...once brittle they bend and snap. May have been the issue. Just FYI Good luck

The same thing happened to me on my '48. A lot of money later for new wires and a new gauge, no more smoke. I THINK the gauge was grounding out. On the new one I made sure it wasn't by using electrical tape to isolte the gauge from the gauge next to it.

My new gas gauge doesn't work, though....

Good luck.

Although I hate em and they are the first thing I cut out and do properly on MY equipment this is a perfect application for inline fuses.

Solder a gator clip on either end put in a small fuse say five amp and then hook up. If you make a mistake the fuse blows.

If you have it right then remove that fuse and proceed to finish.
Dan Bentler

I found a 30 ohm, 2 watt resistor for my fuel gauge so it'll work w/12v, now I need to know the right one for the heater motor. Anybody know off hand? Thanks in advance!!!! (52 3100 12v gen.)

I bought the large resistor as recomended by a vendor but wish I had bought a 12 volt blower instead. The resistor gets really hot and will melt wires or burn skin that it contacts and must be mounted accordingly.

They sell a resistor for the blower motor and it is encased in metal. If you use it, you should attach the case to some sheet metal so it can get rid of the heat. The value will be around 1 ohm and it should be rated at 40 watts or more.