Fuel gauge

[alvin stadel]

A while back I  advertised for a good fuel gauge, I got one from Terry-208. Tested it the best I could and it worked ok, how ever after installing it, it is a no go. So I checked out my interchange manual and found there are serveral #'s, I thought they were all the same.  The part #'s are all the same but they have different letters on the end, so I am at a loss, are they all the same or not.  Sure would like to find a good one as it is not so fun at 74+ sliding in under the dash to change it out.

[glr7533]

From what I understand you can test the gauge and wiring back to the sending unit by removing the wire from the sending unit and touching it to a good ground. If the gauge reads full then everything up to the sending unit is good. If it is good that far back it could be a bad sending unit or just  a bad ground to the sending unit. When I did my wiring I soldered a ground wire to my sending unit and ran the wire to a good ground. I was concerned the new paint would prevent a ground. Have you checked the voltage regulator for the temp and fuel gauges. It's mounted on the back of the dash and I believe it should put out  5 volts. If your temp gauge is working OK then the regulator should be good. I also believe you need to have your volt meter on AC to check the output.

[RICH MUISE]

Good info ^^^^^^
There is also alot of good troubleshooting info on the     www.tanksinc.com website.
Heck Alvin, I thought you were an old guy, but your the same age as me.

[terry_208]

Alvin, I have another one.  This is in a dash that I was told came from a RHT.  It should have the same letter at the end?  I just don't have another tube to cover it for shipping.  I'll try to put in the mail tomorrow, unless you don't want it.

For test purposes, couldn't you use short jumpers from the wires to the "new" fuel gauge?  That way you would save time under the dash and know you had a good gauge before installing it?

[81TTA]

...If it is good that far back it could be a bad sending unit or just  a bad ground to the sending unit. When I did my wiring I soldered a ground wire to my sending unit and ran the wire to a good ground. I was concerned the new paint would prevent a ground....

I had to do the same thing to get the sending unit to work consistently.  I'm not sure of the path to ground from the sending unit, through the tank and on to the body.  Must have been some rust or something else breaking that path.  Adding a separate wire to the sending unit from a known-good ground fixed the issue.

[RICH MUISE]

This is the kind of stuff you can avoid if, when rewiring your car, you wire it as if it were a fiberglass car. No grounds to body, everything wired grounds. Tanks inc and Ron Francis both suggest most electrical problems are grounding issues.

[mustang6984]

Find a place to put a "grounding bar"...then everything goes to the bar. Takes extra planning time...but when done...you'll be driving yours...whilst everyone else is hunting issues. You can hide them in several places...works great for plastic cars...can for metal ones as well.   

[djfordmanjack]

Alvin, in addition to testing the gauge with ground wire. you have to make sure that the actual wire from tank to gauge is ok.
Also, the speedo cluster has a small voltage regulator unit on the back. that could cause problems as well. if the gauge gets excessive or non consistent voltage supply.

[alvin stadel]

Yesterday afternoon Terry 208 called me and we had a good visit about my fuel gauge problem, and he like many of you think it could be a grounding issue, so that is the first thing I plan to check this morning. After he hung up I got to thinking about the 1st time I met terry. He came to my place to get some parts from me, he said he told his wife he was going to visit his brother in I believe northern Idaho.  I had to laugh as where I live in Mt.  is a hell of a long way from his brothers place. I guess it just goes to show that even at our age we still do crazy things to get these old 57's back on the road.

[terry_208]

Yes, Alvin. I left Lewiston, ID at about 1130 PM your time and arrived in your area just before mid morning. I finally made it home just after the dinner hour but in time for the BSU game.  Almost as long a drive as when I bought my 57.  Boise to Meade, WA 432 miles, 7 hrs. Meade to Boardman, OR 200 miles, 3 hrs.  Then home to Boise 268 miles and 4 hrs.  Each trip, including loading time for car and parts, totaled about 21 hours.   It's much quicker to just drop a fuel gauge in the mail!