Fuel guage progress

[Marco Perez]

Hi everyone I'm working with a 64 chrysler newport fuel guage never worked since I got her. Did my research figured fuel guage has voltage regilator inside it and commonly goes out there for temp and fuel guage don't read... I bought a dash on ebay and swapped out motherboard behind guages and now I got some progress. .. my temp started reading once I swapped them out my fuel thou stayed low it might need some fuel which I will be adding some shortly.. if it doesn't move what would it be now ? My fuel sender ?

 

[pnora]

Ground the wire at the tanks sending unit connection. Then turn the key on the gauge should go to full.

 

[Longknife]

But don't leave it on full, as soon as it reaches, or even get close to full shut key off or it will burn up gauge!!! If the gauge doesn't move with this test you have a wiring or gauge problem. If the gauge does move you have a sender unit problem. It could be as simple as a bad ground at the sender. There should be a metal "strap" on the sender line attached to the metal fuel supply line. make sure its tight and not corroded, or better yet use jumper wire to ground the unit.

 

[Marco Perez]

But don't leave it on full, as soon as it reaches, or even get close to full shut key off or it will burn up gauge!!! If the gauge doesn't move with this test you have a wiring or gauge problem. If the gauge does move you have a sender unit problem. It could be as simple as a bad ground at the sender. There should be a metal "strap" on the sender line attached to the metal fuel supply line. make sure its tight and not corroded, or better yet use jumper wire to ground the unit.

Can you get to that without removing the gas tank?

 

[Longknife]

Yes, The sender is on an angled panel toward the front of the tank. Should look like this one,,,

 

[Longknife]

If you are worried about burning up the gauge a simple 12-volt test light could be used. Turn on the key and test the wire at the sender. It should be a pulsating light. This tells you the circuit is complete to the sender and the problem is either a bad sender ground or a bad sender. As a matter-of-fact you can use that light to test about everything electrical on your car. I recommend getting one if you do not have one already.

 

[Marco Perez]

Ok i see so I took some pictures of my sender and outside the pump, I think my ground wire is missing, can you tell me if I am.

 

[Longknife]

Yep, No ground wire (strap). There is really no good way to attach a ground wire to the tank without drilling holes somewhere and that may be a little dangerous. Disconnect wire plug and test with test light or by grounding as in previous posts. You can test ground by putting a jumper wire between sender and fuel line. Then put a new hose on and leave room near the unit to attach this strap between tank outlet and fuel line.
strap

 

[Marco Perez]

Ok so I tested voltage at wire at fuel sender and it was 12 volts, so I'm thinking I need that ground strap so from where to where does this ground need to be attached? On another note I also tested the wire at my temp sender and it read 0 volts. Does any one know where this wire ends at ?

Yep, No ground wire (strap). There is really no good way to attach a ground wire to the tank without drilling holes somewhere and that may be a little dangerous. Disconnect wire plug and test with test light or by grounding as in previous posts. You can test ground by putting a jumper wire between sender and fuel line. Then put a new hose on and leave room near the unit to attach this strap between tank outlet and fuel

 

[Longknife]

It goes here:

 

[Longknife]

You really need a service manual to run down the wiring.
service manual

 

[Marco Perez]

**Update***


So I figured out what was wrong with my temp guage... when I replaced cluster I left those two nuts that hold it a lil loose so I tightened them up some and now my temp guage works and my fuel tank still missing the ground strap..

I made a temp ground strap with some wire I got my fuel moved up a little would it parked in an incline affect it, I'm gonna put some gas in it but is the temp ground ok to be driving around with it on?

 

[Longknife]

Sure, that temp wire will work fine. The float is at the center of the tank and can be affected by an incline.