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| | | | Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 | As I was working through my alternator problems I discover I have an extra wire for the gas gauge. It says "gas gauge feed from ignition switch. The thing is there are two. There is one other wire that goes to the gauge from the tank sending unit. When I test the two red wires (marked number 5 for reference) I see that these two wires are connected. By testing them with the volt meter the black lead on one the red lead on the other. Needle gose up.
So do I put the two number five wires together on the gauge? Or one on each terminal? Is the gauge just an in line meter? Does it matter what terminal on the gauge I connect the sending unit to?
Please keep helping me!!! I'm almost done!!! The darn harness came with such poor instructions.
Thank, Dan
Trombones Totem Poles And Old Trucks!
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 433 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Sep 2009 Posts: 433 | Dan what year truck ? If its a 46 this may not help you... On my 54 the harness has two black wires, one goes to the gas gauge and the other to the gas tank... The Assembly Manual Sec 12/12.00 & 12.01 shows the wiring for the gauges... This is how my gauge looks...
1954 Chevy 3104 3 Window Hydra-Matic in my family for over 60 Years
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right... "Scarlet Begonias" Grateful Dead 1974
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 | Is the gas guage the one on the bottom? Looks like two guages on the back of the one area.
Trombones Totem Poles And Old Trucks!
| | | | | Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 6,100 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 6,100 | Hy 1946GMCDAN, yes it does matter which terminal you mount the wires to, one terminal gets the ignition wire, and the other gets the wire to the sending unit in the tank, I don't know which terminal gets which wire, on some gauges there was an identifying tag to say hook ignition power to this terminal, yours may be gone. So you may have to find a manual with a picture of the back of the gauge, or maybe someone who knows for sure will chime in and tell us which terminal gets which wire. | | | | | Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,232 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,232 | FWIW - On my '54 gas gauge, the sending unit connects to the terminal under "FULL", and the feed from the ignition conntects to the terminal under "EMPTY". Don't know about the extra feed from the ignition in your harness.
The back of the gas gauge grounds to the instrument cluster housing where the two touch. Scrape the cluster housing to shiney metal where they touch. Also probably a good idea to run a ground wire for the sending unit: one end connected to one of the screws that bolt it to the tank, and the other end screwed to the frame or other good ground.
- Lonnie My '54 3104Photos that I have shared on Stovebolt via PhotoBucket are no longer available. Please contact me if you want a photo from an old post. lonniecook [at] aol [dot] com. I sold my '54 3104 12/12/2017, but I still visit Stovebolt. OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all | | | | | Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 | Do I need a Runtz transistorized voltage reducer ??? I have a twelve volt conversion, and the twelve volt conversion guide says I need one. I don't see one on the truck. Where would I look if it had one?
Trombones Totem Poles And Old Trucks!
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 9,115 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 9,115 | I don't know about your year but for 47 to 53, most people use a 30 ohm resister rated for 2 watts. I would give that a try. | | | | | Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 |
I found the reducer and tried that a half doze ways. Nada!
Could I have a 6 volt sending unit?? Do I need to change that?
Last edited by 1946GMCDAN; 11/26/2011 6:38 AM.
Trombones Totem Poles And Old Trucks!
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,232 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2010 Posts: 1,232 |
- Lonnie My '54 3104Photos that I have shared on Stovebolt via PhotoBucket are no longer available. Please contact me if you want a photo from an old post. lonniecook [at] aol [dot] com. I sold my '54 3104 12/12/2017, but I still visit Stovebolt. OLD STUFF ... houses, furniture, cars, wine ... I love it all | | | | | Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 141 | Last night I had an epiphany. "What if there was no power to the gauge? Did you test at the gauge to see? No, its a new harness and should work. Go test the juice at the lead Dan!!
No juice at the gauge!!!! Easy fix!! Of course.
Now it works. Of course. I bought the 45 dollar NOS GMC GMC gauge on eBay three days ago in a last ditch try at getting it to work. I think the seller will take it back.
Nice to see that needle stand up !!!!
Thanks for the help. I'm starting to remember that with an ohm meter you really can fix or find out what is wrong with any electrical system. Its only been 35 years since I messed with this stuff.
The nice thing about this gas gage problem is I didn't fry my gage because there was no power to the gage.
And I learned how to wire in the voltage drop. Easy!!!
On to the temp gage!!!!!
Trombones Totem Poles And Old Trucks!
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