The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay "Fried Runtz" anybody?

Has anyone experienced a runtz voltage resistor that self-destructed?

Yes, I had it correctly hooked up and properly grounded. But, I still didn't have a functioning gas gauge. I had a new sending unit also and it was properly grounded. No matter, the gauge still read empty. :mad:

Today, the cab filled with smoke on me. I shut 'er down in a hurry and disconnected the battery. After the smoke cleared, I found that the Runtz had gone up in smoke, melting its blue plastic cover. I sure hope this didn't ruin the gauge.

Has anyone else experienced this?

53,
I have used a Runtz for a couple years now and have never seen this happen. How long did your Runtz last before this happened?

It's been in the truck ('53 1/2 ton) about a month. No sign of smoke until today! :confused:

I would email Randy Rundle the Moderator. As he is the Inventor of the Runtz I believe there is a link to Fifth Ave in the link section.

Please let us know what happens.

I had one that fried, although not quite as bad as yours. I talked to Randy and he kindly replaced it. No charge. Your best bet is to give him a call. He can tell you if you may have had something wired up wrong to cause your problem.

Good Luck
George

I have also had problems with the runtz. My '49 doesn't like them. I have the power lead coming straight off of the battery & it is grounded correctly. I have replaced it a couple of times. It works for a while then just dies and bingo no gauge again. I just watch my odometer from fill up.

I have blown a couple of them over the years. Mine seem to have blown when I forgot to turn on my main battery cutoff switch before turning on my ignition switch. If I turn on the ignition switch then turn on the battery cutoff switch, I'll hear a pop then the gas gauge wont work. I cut open the blue insulation on the burned out ones to find that usually its one of the little brown capacitors or whatever they are, that actually crack apart.

Mine died this weekend. It was working intermittantly and would cut out after a few minutes of running. I have a brand new wiring harness and a new Delco alternator. I'm going to dissect it and analyze it to see what happened.