grrrr.. fuel gauge won't work

[64Belvedere]

Ok, so I've pulled the wire off and to the fuel gauge and grounded it directly and it ticks(no noise, Just moves like a second hand on a watch)) a bit then goes to full. pulled the sending unit and replaced the float. Checked the resistance of the sending unit and it runs from 8 ohns or s to 55 or so. Hook the gauge wire to the stud and the gauge goes from E up to the empty mark, ticks a bit and goes back to E. No idea. Going to change voltage regulators at the cluster first then maybe try a spare gauge cluster. Temp gauge isn't hooked up. any ideas?

 

[wannadrag]

Pull the wire from the sender and ground it,if the guage goes to full the guage is good and you have a typical garbage Chinese sender.

 

[64Belvedere]

Done that. The gauge goes to full. The sending unit looks to be the original, or an older replacement it has factory undercoating on the face of it. I'm wondering what I should be getting for ohms.

 

[Beekeeper]

10 to 70 ohms is the value range for the sender. When testing the full range of the sender with an ohm meter make sure that it's consistent not going up and down through the full range.

 

[Badvert65]

Very curious as to what you discover. My 65 Belvedere has the exact same symptoms but I haven't had time to look at it.

 

[moparsteve636]

How about the ground strap between the sender and the fuel line?

 

[64Belvedere]

Ok...the gauge goes to full when the wire at the back is grounded.
The sender resistance has checked out consistent between 8 Ohms and 68 ohms (not the ideal 10-70 but close enough)
There was no ground strap there when I took it apart. I have since installed one and it made no difference in gauge performance.
I know there is a bad ground behind the cluster as my right signal indicator on the cluster stays lit when the headlight switch is on. Been that way since I bought the car in 2008.
New Ground, everything underneath cleaned up and the gauge will not pass the empty mark. No idea what to do next.

 

[Beekeeper]

Try hooking the sending unit wire back on the sender then use a jumper to ground the sending unit to the chassis. Maybe your fuel line doesn't have sufficient ground
to the chassis.

If you don't get any results with that the next thing
to do is check all the connections on the gauge cluster and replace the IVR.

 

[747mopar]

Ok...the gauge goes to full when the wire at the back is grounded.
The sender resistance has checked out consistent between 8 Ohms and 68 ohms (not the ideal 10-70 but close enough)
There was no ground strap there when I took it apart. I have since installed one and it made no difference in gauge performance.
I know there is a bad ground behind the cluster as my right signal indicator on the cluster stays lit when the headlight switch is on. Been that way since I bought the car in 2008.
New Ground, everything underneath cleaned up and the gauge will not pass the empty mark. No idea what to do next.

Get yourself a long piece of wire and ground it (a good clean ground) to the sending unit (the 3/8 tube or anywhere on the top) and run it to a good known ground and see what happens. It will never work correctly without a good ground to read resistance to. I didn't like the grounding strap and made a copper clamp for the tube and then ran the wire to a good chassis ground. Good luck

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

pulled the wire off and put 12v to you gauge? wtf? please don't do that again lol


Wiring diagrams! check the circuit board connectors for lose also check for broken or burned paths on the board if it (the fuel gauge)works when you ground the sending unit with the (key on) then its the sending unit in the tank nothing more, temp gauge not working could be unrelated if the gauge only reads partial when grounded than limiter and or board issue

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1964/64BelvedereFurySavoyA.JPG

http://www.mymopar.com/downloads/1964/64BelvedereFurySavoyB.JPG

 

[vin_vl29u]

I've seen those little voltage reducers do some strange things, being all mechanical. And since your temp gauge isn't working, it's possible the vr is bad. But like stated above, if it works by grounding the wire at the tank, it should be doing something when sending unit is grounded. You could take out the sending unit, ground the fuel tube, and work the float full to empty to see what happens.

 

[64Belvedere]

Checked a few things tonight. Once again, Ground sending unit wire for a few seconds and the gauge goes to full. checked the resistance of the sending unit installed in the tank and it's at 30ish Ohms which would be correct for the gas in it. Moves up and down a bit as the car is rocked. Checked the resistance of the gauge wire at the connector in the drivers kick panel, all is good there as well. because the gauge is going to full when it grounds, I'm suspicious if the IVR. I have a spare around somewhere. They are expensive suckers to buy around here. 50 bucks or so CDN.

 

[bigmanjbmopar]

? you are checking the sending unit while it's in the tank? lol one more thing, there should be a ground strap grounding the sending unit to the frame, otherwise you will get false readings and intermittent ones too. sounds like the gauge is fine it moves to full when you ground the wire. just need to confirm ground strap at sending unit is there and good then if no joy drain tank and pull sending unit.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

pulled the wire off and put 12v to you gauge? wtf? please don't do that again lol

which amazes me is that SURVIVED!!! I burnt a gauge accidentally with a regular 9 volts battery

 

[Dennis H]

Just a side note, I gave up on my fuel gauge. After removing all three terminal-connector bank terminals on the bulkhead connector and cleaning them, the fuel gauge now goes just about to full when filling. Before, it never went past 2/3. Maybe just coincidence. FYI only.

 

[64Belvedere]

That first post should not have said 12V to the gauge. I meant that I grounded it for about 5 seconds. I didn't give it 12 volts at any time. Grounds are all there and fine as is the resistance on the sending unit. It was tested both in tank and out. As I said in my last post, I am getting 30ish ohms as it's installed in the tank. I am also getting the same reading at the connector in the kick panel which tells me the wire is good as well.

 

[2059]

gonna ask a stupid question. Is the sending unit/pickup in the tank upside down if possible? It has happened.

 

[Nacho-RT74]

wouldn't suck gas if that was posible

 

[64Belvedere]

Good thought but I double checked that. It wouldn't matter anyway as there is currently 30 ohms worth in the tank.

 

[64Belvedere]

Changed to a known good IVR. No change. Gotta be a ground or a dirty connection somewhere.