The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Another gas gauge question

I perfect day to work on the couple of things I have been putting off, seeing how we are getting another 2 inches of rain here and this is the 6th rainy Saturday in a row. If you turned on the Capitol Classic tournament on TV, you know what kind weather I am talking about
My gauge is pegged full all the time. I followed the tests from the previous post on this matter and I still not sure what the problem is. Take the wire off and it goes to empty. Pulled the sending unit (still grounded) and no matter where the float is it reads full. The needle will move slightly below full when you raise the float all the way up and down just a little. I know this is an often discussed topic, but any help is appreciated. The gauge was rebuilt by American and the sending unit is new.

Bill,

It sounds like the gauge is OK. It reads empty when off and pegs to full when on.

You say you have the sender out of the tank and a battery lead to the gauge. Be sure all lead connections are clean. Be sure the sender wire is not broken.

Two other things to check are the grounding of the sender and the sender unit itself.

1: Grounding of the sender: run a clean wire from a good ground to the body of the sender. Your ground is now assured.

2. Move the sender arm up and down. If the needle does not move, the problem is most likely in the sender.

Someone will correct me, if my instructions are unclear or incorrect.

I recently ran these test on my non-working gauge and found a poorly grounded sender, a bad sender, a bad gauge, and a disconnected lead wire. I had a spare gauge and sender and was quickly able to correct the problems.

Tim

Thanks Tim, I will check the ground tomorrow. I think it is ok, right to the frame, but worth a look.Bill

Hey, Bill

I agree with Tim -- sounds like a bad ground to me!

No luck, tried a couple different locations to make sure it was defineately grounded an no change. It stays pegged on full. Could the sending unit be bad?

Try putting an ohm meter on the sender to check it out. When the float is in the up position, the resistance should be zero or close to it. The resistance should rise as the float drops.

Check out this article on senders...

Thanks Bill, I will try that tonight when I get homw from work.

Bill,
the only way that you can get the full reading is having a path to ground somewhere. When you had the gauge out, if you had a separate wire from the gauge to the sender, then you could test it for sure. It sounds to me that either your sender is bad, which I doubt or more likely the wire going from the gauge to the sender is shorting to the cab body. It goes underneath , right?