i am trying to figure out why my fuel gauge doesnt work and when i test the power wire that goes to the sender the test light pulses or flashes is that normal? the sender is new but it doesnt seem to be grounding, so i need to know if that should be a constant signal or not thanks
Joined: Sat Dec 10 2005, 04:28PM
Location: United States
Posts: 4954
You're probably seeing the voltage regulator in the dash. What happens with the gauge when you ground the wire at the tank? I am assuming your other gauges are working?
If the gauge goes all the way to full, when you dround the wire, then there is a problem at the tank. You could be correct that the sending unit isn't grounding. If that's the case, you need to ground the unit to the body some how.
You can, put a sheet metal screw in the sender and attach a wire to it that way. . . . Or try just ground the tank first. The sending unit gets it's ground from the locking collar to the tank.
Yes , it should pulse. Your voltage limiter on instrument cluster is still working.Power for gauge starts at voltage limiter. Then goes thru the gauge and grounds at tank via sending unit to complete the circuit. Ground wire by sending unit and fuel gauge should read full. If it does read full yet nothing when connected to sender you are probably right in that the tank is not grounded. Factory grounded tank thru the fuel line. this was done with a metal strap that bridged the electrical gap caused by the rubber fuel hose between sender and steel fuel line under car. This strap is reproduced for the little car (A,B,E) crowd and with Chrysler's parts bin mentality it fits full sizes to.
Joined: Thu Oct 13 2005, 01:54PM
Location: Germany
Posts: 5
Here you can see the clip that was used for grounding:
The picture is from the '70 Chrysler service manual. But I think the clip is not always necessary because it's missing at my LeBaron and the fuel gauge is working anyway.
Joined: Wed Oct 12 2005, 08:03AM
Location: utah
Posts: 40
That is a nice picture from the fsm. Tha ground strap from the sending unit to the fuel line is missing on alot of cars, and some seem to work without, but it shouldn't. That's always the first place I tell my customers (dealership parts dept) to look when they have problems with the gauge reading, or it changes alot. You can get some strange variations without the ground in place.
well i grounded the wire to the sender and the gauge went past full so i ran a ground wire to the sender. with the test light run in series from the wire to the stud on the sender i get no light at all but if i touch teh top of the sender light is strong. so either it has to much resistance to light the light at 1/4 tank or the sender is bad. nees to put more gas in to confirm but at 2.50 a gal i gotta wait till midweek
