1963 Gas Gauge Dissection and Repair

[Just Send It]

1963 Dodge 330

The gas gauge in my car has never worked. The guy I bought it from said it hasn't worked since he bought it in 91'. So let's assume this thing hasn't functioned in roughly 40 years.

Today that changes....

I'm rewiring the entire car over this Winter, and part of that process is undoing the impressive amount of electrical cobblery behind the firewall. It's a damn mess back there! Since the cluster was out anyway, I carefully took it apart and started inspecting the guages.

After putting my extra strength bifocals on and shining the brightest light I have, I noticed that one side of the coiled wires had snapped off the post.

I checked the resistance on the remaining wire to make 100% there wasn't another break where the wire is coiled. Thankfully the rest of the wire was solid!

I've never taken one of these apart before so I wasn't prepared for just how thin of a gauge that wire is. It's like the width of a hair and it's SUPER fragile.

I busted out the smallest soldering tip I had and went to work.

After a bunch of cuss words and detaching my retina staring at this wire while the soldering iron was heating up, I was able to make a good bond.

Moment of truth. A few Hail Mary's later, I had my wife hit the juice to the battery as I twisted the key.

Sucker works! The curse is lifted. I'm stoked.

 

[bolson6333]

 

[PRND21]

Does anybody know the purpose of that wire being so small? Does it act as a fuse? Could it be a larger gauge and not hurt anything? Thanks.

 

[Just Send It]

Well, Gents....

Much to my displeasure the gauge broke again. I guess that little wire on the inside is more brittle than I thought. It snapped right at the soldered joint.

Major bummer


I created a WTB ad if any of you guys have one lying around.

WTB - 1963 Dodge 330 Gas Gauge

I am looking for a gas gauge for my 63' 330. Please let me know what you have! I tried fixing the stock one a few months ago, and I made a post about it. https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/1963-gas-gauge-dissection-and-repair.284889/ It worked temporarily but then the...

www.forbbodiesonly.com

 

[Fury63]

Is the voltage too high, causing the wire to burn free, instead of breaking?

 

[kiwigtx]

Does anybody know the purpose of that wire being so small? Does it act as a fuse? Could it be a larger gauge and not hurt anything? Thanks.

It's a resistance wire - probably nichrome.
Has to be small otherwise it would heat up too much and start melting stuff....like the OP's super-duper strength bi-focals for one.

Nice try @Just Send It - it was always worth trying to fix. I tried that myself, and it is not easy.

Have a look at my fuel gauge swap - you could probably do a nicer job than I did.....




Also - 1968 Dodge A100 re-born ...again.... Post #18 ---->

 

[Just Send It]

Is the voltage too high, causing the wire to burn free, instead of breaking?

I checked the limiter when I had everything disassembled and the voltage range was within spec. I'm not sure why that little wire keeps burning up. It's very fragile, so I'm wondering if when I soldered it, I put too much heat into it and made it too brittle.

It seems to keep breaking right at the soldered joint

 

[Just Send It]

It's a resistance wire - probably nichrome.
Has to be small otherwise it would heat up too much and start melting stuff....like the OP's super-duper strength bi-focals for one.

Nice try @Just Send It - it was always worth trying to fix. I tried that myself, and it is not easy.

Have a look at my fuel gauge swap - you could probably do a nicer job than I did.....




Also - 1968 Dodge A100 re-born ...again.... Post #18 ---->

Thanks for sharing. I've considered a gauge replacement with something more modern.

Here's my dumb question...Since my gauges are inverted and sweep from left to right, is there a way to reverse the polarity on a new gauge so that it defaults to the right (Empty) and then sweeps left (Full)?

That's been my issue I could not wrap my head around

 

[kiwigtx]

Thanks for sharing. I've considered a gauge replacement with something more modern.

Here's my dumb question...Since my gauges are inverted and sweep from left to right, is there a way to reverse the polarity on a new gauge so that it defaults to the right (Empty) and then sweeps left (Full)?

That's been my issue I could not wrap my head around

I don't know about reversing the polarity - if it was a "Full or Empty" situation then you could switch the position of the needle with a relay. But now you're getting into tricky territory with a reversing of the adjusting resistance.
If an in-tank fuel sender could be dismantled, it might be possible to invert the float direction.....but that is just making a really difficult job of something that shouldn't be that difficult.