70 Charger Gauges

[bandit]

Anyone know how to bring dead gauges back to life? Getting nothing out of my fuel, temp and oil gauges. Tested the posts on the fuel gauge and it is receiving resistance signal and 5 volts to positive. Same on temp. I just switched over to solid state voltage regulator to get a consistent 5 volts too and no help. They do not bounce when the key turns on or anything. They are just dead. Any suggestions on fixing these or are they gone?

Thanks

 

[okiemopar]

Anyone know how to bring dead gauges back to life? Getting nothing out of my fuel, temp and oil gauges. Tested the posts on the fuel gauge and it is receiving resistance signal and 5 volts to positive. Same on temp. I just switched over to solid state voltage regulator to get a consistent 5 volts too and no help. They do not bounce when the key turns on or anything. They are just dead. Any suggestions on fixing these or are they gone?

Thanks

Make sure the cluster gauge is grounded good are thy won't work. I ended up and bought new gauges for mine. Good Luck Ronnie

 

[bandit]

thanks. I'm pretty sure my ground is good. Clock, tach and ammeter work fine. I know they are on different circuits but I would think they should all have the same ground strength throughout the cluster. I was hoping I wouldn't have to track down these three.

Thanks

 

[tpodwdog]

do the dash lights work?...if they do...its grounded...

if the gauges are not working...but light up.....bad new voltage thingy!

im not positive but...i think the old gauges wont work with the solid state circuit board. i just rebuilt my dash in my 70 rr...( same dash as yours) but i put all new repro gauges in and all work fine. call charger specilaties and ask them.

 

[70Fish]

Did you check if there's any broken pins on the circuit board?

 

[bandit]

The lights on the dash do work. Interesting about the solid state maybe not working. I'll call them on Monday. Have you ever put a meter on the post with the original voltage regulator? I know the originals are supposed to pulse to bring the voltage down to 5 volts but mine was pulsing back and forth between 2.5 to 5 volts the whole time. Does that pulsing range sound correct? That is why I changed to solid state. Just to make sure. Might be what is causing my gauge problem now. I am just surprised I am not getting a bump or anything when the key is turned on. Some sign of life with the old regulator or the new.

I did not notice anything broken on the board but I will go through it once again and double check. Right now I do know all the actual posts to the gauges are getting their correct signal.

Do you guys know how these are grounded? Are they simply grounded through their mounts to the case or is there some kind of grounding wire underneath the circuit board that goes to these three gauges? I use the case as a ground when I test for 5 volts at the post so know they are grounded at least somewhat. Maybe it needs a better ground and is loose underneath?? I might be taking that board off next to see inside of there. Might be worth seeing the back of each of the gauges too to see if anything is burnt. My big deal is getting that fuel gauge working. Driving around with an extra tank of gas in the trunk now.

Thanks

 

[bandit]

Took off the board and pulled the gauges. Put a direct ground onto each gauge case with the 5 volts on the post and resistance wire on the other and nothing. Not a single blip on the gauge. This is frustrating. Bulbs on the same circuit board light up. Put in the old regulator to try as well and still nothing. I hate to go and buy new gauges without being sure but I am running out of ideas.

Is there any way to test the gauge to see if it is good when it is pulled from the car completely? Is there a resistance reading across the posts I should see or anything like that? I'm about ready to shock these things with 12 volts just to try and get some movement out of them.

Scott

 

[ChargerRTguy]

I had to rebuild my dash gauges too in my '68. I took apart my whole dash and tested all of the continuity from all different places on the board. I bought a new circuit board and needed to replace 2 gauges. You can test each gauge except the amp gauge with a 5 volt power supply and the gauge will slowly go from zero to full, if it is working correctly. If you put a continuity tester with a light on for example on the oil pressure sensor and the other end on the ground, the light will blink if everything is ok. If steady or does not blink there is a problem. The gauges ground thru the dash board. I am still having trouble with my gas gauge, it might be a ground on the fuel tank. You might want to check that too.

 

[bandit]

I can put a resistance meter on the line coming from the sending unit and it checks out ok. I think I am going to take these out again and just put 5 volts on one peg and ground the other to see if I can get any life out of these. If that gives me nothing I have to conclude the gauges are bad.

 

[ChargerRTguy]

I did the same thing and found 2 bad gauges. You can leave the gauges on the board and test each one with voltage thru the actual pins, this way you know the board and the gauge is good. If not,you can buy nice "licensed" repo gauges for about $75 each.

 

[bandit]

I got it isolated! Grounded out the resistance lead into each gauge while on the board and got action out of temp and oil but nothing out of fuel. Tells me bad fuel gauge and bad leads to temp and oil. Temporarily, I just wired my fuel lead into the temp gauge so at least I can have an idea how much gas I have until I pick everything up.

Thanks for the help guys

Scott

 

[Photon440]

I got it isolated! Grounded out the resistance lead into each gauge while on the board and got action out of temp and oil but nothing out of fuel. Tells me bad fuel gauge and bad leads to temp and oil. Temporarily, I just wired my fuel lead into the temp gauge so at least I can have an idea how much gas I have until I pick everything up.

Thanks for the help guys

Scott

So, if it reads hot, you have lots of gas?:angry9:

 

[tpodwdog]

should you need them...i have all my original gauges on ebay now...heres a link to the fuel gauge

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130704800197?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

 

[bandit]

haha pretty much. I'm assuming they are all the exact same meter guts with different faces so I should be able to follow the needle the same way. Working for me so far. All three of these gauges are pretty simple and just measure resistance from the sender.(temp, oil and fuel)

 

[bandit]

Thanks tpodwdog. I may be on that one. I'd like to get rest of this wiring done so I can move onto other things.

 

[tpodwdog]

Thanks tpodwdog. I may be on that one. I'd like to get rest of this wiring done so I can move onto other things.

no prob...any time. go to see my other items....tons of stuff in there!....ill be easy on the shipping for ya! just let me know its you....k?:headbang:

 

[A383Wing]

I got a solid state limiter on all my Chargers...both 66's and the 70....gauges work fine

Bryan

 

[bandit]

Just an update. I decided to drill out the two rivets on the fuel gauge and open it up since it was dead anyways. The inside was very surprisingly simple. Each post is connected to the other through a very thin wire that coils around the arm movement in the middle. That is pretty much it. My problem was the wire had come loose from one of the posts. Just soldered it back and the gauge came back to life. Working great so far.

Went to Ace and bought their smallest metal screws and screwed them into the rivet holes on the gauge case that I drilled out to open it. Fits and holds nice. You can buy them one at a time for $.06. Screws are not seen when the dash is put back together.

Thought I would share in case anyone ever needs it. These gauges are very very simple on the inside. Worth opening up if you think it is dead anyways.