|
HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
#120045
09/13/08 02:52 PM
09/13/08 02:52 PM
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
This thing is wearing me out  .........It should be working, but it isn't.........Here's what I've done; If I ground the wire back at the tank, it pegs the gauge...........so I know everything from the wire to the gauge is fine.......... It's a brand new sending unit with a good float.......If I have it out of the tank with the fuel gauge wire hooked up and a wire attached from the sending unit to the body for a ground, the gauge works perfect.......With the float all the way down, it shows empty, with the float about half way, it shows half full, and with the float all the way up, the gauge shows full......... With the sending unit out and on my table and the float all the way down, it shows 82 on my resistance setting of my meter.......With the float all the way up, it shows 13.........With the float roughly in the middle of it's travel, it shows roughly 38........ Right now, I've got about a half a tank of fuel in it........If I put the sending unit in the tank, the gauge won't go above an 1/8 of a tank, even if it's full of fuel........I hook up my meter and it reads 42, so it should be working.......I've checked and double checked to make sure the sending unit is grounded properly when in the tank and it is......and yes, there is a ground wire from the engine to ground........ What am I missing??? 
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
[Re: TJP]
#120047
09/13/08 03:48 PM
09/13/08 03:48 PM
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Quote:
Silly questions????
Any chance you have the wrong sending unit????
Or is something limiting the travel of the float arm when installed????
Step back and look at the problem,
sounds like the solution is probably staring you in the face but your not seeing it, not trying to be a smart a-- but rather help
Tim
That's what I keep thinking..........It has to be right in front of me but I can't see it....... 
I found a pic of the sending unit in the Year One catalog and it looks correct by the pic......I even made sure it's touching the bottom of the tank........and with the unit in the tank with a half a tank of fuel in it, my meter shows it's reading about halfway...... 
It's a new tank.........and the float moves easily when out of the tank.......even if I hold it sideways a little.......I even made sure that it's indexed correctly while in the tank.......
This thing is kicking my butt......... 
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
#120048
09/13/08 05:57 PM
09/13/08 05:57 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,074
Niles , Ohio
therocks
oh wait.but hey.lets see.oh yeah.
|
oh wait.but hey.lets see.oh yeah.
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 21,074
Niles , Ohio
|
Put it in and attach a good ground to it.If its not grounding good it wont work right.I run a 12 gauge wire to the body and attach the other end with a tiny hose clamp to the sender outlet tube.I dont have a lot of faith in the factory ground that they came with.Rocky
Chrysler Firepower
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
#120052
09/13/08 08:45 PM
09/13/08 08:45 PM
|
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 973
South Texas
badchallenger
Fluff Flipper
|
Fluff Flipper
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 973
South Texas
|
There is also a possibility that the float arm might be lose and if lifted up buy the gasoline it would pull the needle on the rheostat away and not making contact. This is very doubtfull though. i would guess its the ground also.  Dave
U.S. Navy Sea Bees (Retired now)
U.S. Army Civil Service NDT
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
[Re: badchallenger]
#120053
09/13/08 09:39 PM
09/13/08 09:39 PM
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Quote:
There is also a possibility that the float arm might be lose and if lifted up buy the gasoline it would pull the needle on the rheostat away and not making contact. This is very doubtfull though. i would guess its the ground also.
Dave
I'd thought of that too, so I took it apart and bent the needle to it hits the rheostat harder........
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
[Re: JohnRR]
#120055
09/14/08 01:35 PM
09/14/08 01:35 PM
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Quote:
Welcome to the world of replacement fuel senders , I don't know of any that work properly ...
Wayne , what it he resistance between the sender body and ground with your ground strap in place ?
It reads .8 on my meter.........and that's with an additional wire that's clamped to the sending unit and bolted to the frame..........and it still doesn't work........
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
#120056
09/14/08 01:53 PM
09/14/08 01:53 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,041
Lincoln Nebraska
RapidRobert
Circle Track
|
Circle Track
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 36,041
Lincoln Nebraska
|
I would temporarily run a long jumper wire from the sending unit metal body DIRECTLY all the way up to the batt neg terminal.
live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
[Re: RapidRobert]
#120059
09/14/08 04:21 PM
09/14/08 04:21 PM
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Quote:
I would temporarily run a long jumper wire from the sending unit metal body DIRECTLY all the way up to the batt neg terminal.
I just got back from doing that and it's still the same......
Quote:
When I had redline rebuild my gauges they called me for the ohm measurements on my sending unit and calibrated my gauge to the sending unit.
What I don't get is, with the float out of the tank, a ground wire clipped from the sending unit to the fuel sender ground strap, it works perfect........I can move it from empty, to half way, to full, and the gauge reads right...........
It's as if the sender being in gasoline is causing the problem......
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
#120060
09/14/08 06:01 PM
09/14/08 06:01 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 75,043
U.S.S.A.
JohnRR
I Win
|
I Win
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 75,043
U.S.S.A.
|
Quote:
Quote:
I would temporarily run a long jumper wire from the sending unit metal body DIRECTLY all the way up to the batt neg terminal.
I just got back from doing that and it's still the same......
Quote:
When I had redline rebuild my gauges they called me for the ohm measurements on my sending unit and calibrated my gauge to the sending unit.
What I don't get is, with the float out of the tank, a ground wire clipped from the sending unit to the fuel sender ground strap, it works perfect........I can move it from empty, to half way, to full, and the gauge reads right...........
It's as if the sender being in gasoline is causing the problem......
Wayne I did a tongue in cheek back and forth with someone else recently on this EXACT SUBJECT and I asked this question which I got no reply to .
How do you know that the level you are raising it to is the actual level its going to inside the tank when its full of fuel ?
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
[Re: HealthServices]
#120062
09/14/08 06:56 PM
09/14/08 06:56 PM
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Quote:
How do you know that the level you are raising it to is the actual level its going to inside the tank when its full of fuel ?
All I do know is that with my ohm meter, I can check the reading at the sender while in the tank and it reads roughly halfway.......about 42 on my meter..........
Quote:
In other words what reading are you getting?
Remember your tank is only 12" tall or so and long and wide.
This means that if the car is jacked up in the rear the fuel will move to one side and the level in the tank will be off.
Also you may have to bend your float arm so when the car is level and half full of gas the guage will read the same.
I have the car on my drive on, 4 post lift, so the car is sitting just as it would be on the ground......
I've also bent the float arm so it would make the fuel gauge read even higher (which I've done in the past on different cars and it's moved the needle to where I've wanted).........
It kills me that with the sender out of the car and hooked up, I can move it through it's travel, and the gauge works correctly!!! That keeps me thinking it's a ground problem, but I think I've eliminated that by running a heavy gauge wire from the sender to the battery!!! Where's the head bangin' the wall emoticon???
|
|
|
Re: HELP!!! 70 Body fuel gauge won't work!!!
[Re: JohnRR]
#120064
09/14/08 09:23 PM
09/14/08 09:23 PM
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Anonymous
OP
Unregistered
|
Quote:
It might be partly a ground problem as .8 ohms isn't really 0.
any idea what the original sender read when it was at half a tank ?
What's odd is, I can use that exact same ground wire, attached to the sender with it out of the car, and it works!!! 
The guy brought this car to me like this.......
Quote:
how do you know what you have in the tank is actually half a tank ?
When I'd found that the float had a hole in it and was full of fuel, I'd installed a new float and filled it up with fuel.......On the way home the gauge slowly worked it's way up to the half way mark........so I figured I'd drain some fuel, bend the float lever to make the gauge read higher, and then reassemble........I drained 6 gallons out from full and that's just below the bottom of where the sender goes in.......so I know I'm 6 gallons from full.........
Quote:
I'm not sure what my Dart has for a sender , my tank is painted on the outside , but when I fill it , the fill nozzle shuts off and spits fuel down the side of the car , it only reads 3/4.
I have a new sender , 3/8 line , and I have a new sender for my Bee also , I am NOT looking forward to replacing the senders .
I've been down this road before, a bunch of times.....and have never had one get the best of me.......... 
|
|
|
|
|
I was thinking the same thing. Doesn't matter if it's grounded to the tank, needs to be well grounded to the chassis.
