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Fuel gauge problems..HELP?!?!?!?!?!?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by oddrod46, Nov 17, 2006.

  1. oddrod46
    Joined: May 25, 2005
    Posts: 1,074

    oddrod46
    Member
    from Georgia

    picked up a little 63 Comet for my girl,the fuel tank and sending unit are new with reciepts,the fuel gauge does not work at all It shows less than empty even when full.I checked the connections on the back of the dash and they looked clean ,fit tight, and have no breaks in the wiring.The temp gauge is also dead,maybe related or not .Anyway thanks fellas
     
  2. If the temp guage is also dead, your voltage reducer is shot. Looks a little like a rectangular flasher, but with one male and one female terminal, it is bolted to the back of the cluster.

    Cosmo
     
  3. oddrod46
    Joined: May 25, 2005
    Posts: 1,074

    oddrod46
    Member
    from Georgia


    Voltage reducer never heard of that one before?????
     
  4. Petejoe
    Joined: Nov 27, 2002
    Posts: 12,263

    Petejoe
    Member
    from Zoar, Ohio

    If you found a new sending unit on it, Its quite obvious someone else was trying to repair the problem too. 90% of the time a gauge problem is related to a grounding issue. Run an extra wire from your sending unit to a good frame ground. Then get yourself a voltage meter and check for continuity and voltage at the sending unit and at the gage.
     

  5. oddrod46
    Joined: May 25, 2005
    Posts: 1,074

    oddrod46
    Member
    from Georgia

    Is any one familiar wit where the ground originally is on these cars.Underneath the car you can see the connectore that goes to the sending unit which is a factory connector.The car has carpet glued in the trunk I dont mind pulling it up if there is a ground in the trunk that is visible or a palce to ground to from the original ground source but before i pull up that carpet I wanted to see if anybody knew
     
  6. JayD
    Joined: Aug 29, 2005
    Posts: 544

    JayD
    Member

    Use a couple of wires with alligator clips to see if that is even an issue before you get to digging too deep. I sometimes have a problem of making things much harder than they really are.

    J
     
  7. old beet
    Joined: Sep 25, 2002
    Posts: 5,750

    old beet
    Member

    The way I understand it= Power to one side of the gauge, the ground goes to the sending unit in tank. The sending unit is a ground gauge, as the float moves up and down the amount of the ground changes, hence the needle moves. Never a hot wire to the fuel tank!!.........OLDBEET
     
  8. guiseart
    Joined: Apr 7, 2005
    Posts: 3,872

    guiseart
    Member

    I'd check and/or replace the wires from the sender to the guages... old wires = rust, cracks and shorts.
     
  9. 4tford
    Joined: Aug 27, 2005
    Posts: 1,824

    4tford
    Member

    There should be a ground to the sending unit. I would check with an ohm meter to see if the mounting plate of the sending unit is grounded, if not add a ground wire. They usually have a blade terminal to connect a ground wire to. The sending unit is a variable resistor that changes resistence when the float arm moves but one end needs to be grounded and the other goes to the gauge. Also check for voltage at the gauge with the key on. No voltage check your fuses or as was mentioned at the voltage regulator on the cluster.
     
  10. Don't make this so complicated. You have a fuel gauge that does not work AND a temp guage that does not work.

    What is common between the two??

    The VOLTAGE REDUCER!!!

    What commonly goes out on sixties Fords that puts the guages out??

    The VOLTAGE REDUCER!!!

    What should you check first??

    The water level in the right front tyre!!!

    Cosmo
     
  11. kustomkolin
    Joined: Jan 1, 2005
    Posts: 160

    kustomkolin
    Member
    from Herts UK

    I gotta agree with cosmo on this one.The voltage stabilser/reducer is shot.Both gauges are not working so from experience I would say 100% its the stabiliser.If it was just one gauge,then the fault would be elsewhere.
     
  12. oddrod46
    Joined: May 25, 2005
    Posts: 1,074

    oddrod46
    Member
    from Georgia





    called 4 different parts stores today 2 of them sale me alot of parts for my sleds and have for years nobody had ever heard of a voltage reducer or stabilizer where in the hell do I find one
     
  13. 40Tudor
    Joined: Jan 1, 2002
    Posts: 635

    40Tudor
    Member

    Try NAPA - it's called an Instrument Cluster Voltage Regulator
     
  14. recardo
    Joined: Aug 31, 2006
    Posts: 833

    recardo
    Member
    from Winslow

    You need a multi-meter for your tool-chest. Multi-meters are cool. They tell you when a circuit has voltage, read ohms, and amps. All good things for someone who enjoys working on cars.

    If you had a multi-meter you could tell if there was voltage, and how much, was on the fuel gauge, and the sender unit.
     
  15. fiftyfiveford
    Joined: Jan 11, 2006
    Posts: 668

    fiftyfiveford
    Member

    I could be wrong but I thought a bad ground at the sending unit results in the gas gauge being pegged on the full side not the empty side.
     
  16. You are correct, but you would also have to know that the Ford voltage regulator works like a flasher, it is set to average about 6 volts, but it does that by applying 12, then none, then 12 again. The gauges work OK this way because they are slow-acting resistance guages, not the magnetic coil gauges used by some other makes.
    Cosmo
     
  17. Bugman
    Joined: Nov 17, 2001
    Posts: 3,483

    Bugman
    Member

    you ar correct sir.
     
  18. 4tford
    Joined: Aug 27, 2005
    Posts: 1,824

    4tford
    Member

    What about the fuse? Just changing parts does not help in learning how to trouble shoot an electrical circuit. Your probably right and it could be the voltage regulator but with out checking the inputs to the gauge it is a guess. Find the problem before you run out to buy any parts.
     
  19. 53chieftian
    Joined: Aug 13, 2005
    Posts: 611

    53chieftian
    Member



    Welcome to the Ford of the sixties! If you bypass the reducer the temp and fuel will read hotter and fuller! Scratched my head for weeks on this one once!


    .
     
  20. dickster27
    Joined: Feb 28, 2004
    Posts: 3,209

    dickster27
    Member
    from Texas

    You are absolutely correct about the bad ground reading full. And I too think it is the volt reducer. I have a new one you are welcome to if you can't find one at your NAPA store.
    the Dickster
     
  21. recardo
    Joined: Aug 31, 2006
    Posts: 833

    recardo
    Member
    from Winslow

    You have to know that Ford gave that guy a bonus, as it allowed them to dump their obsolete inventory of 6 volt senders.

    If you want to keep it stock, then buy about 10 of these, you'll need em...
     
  22. BobbyD
    Joined: Jun 6, 2005
    Posts: 581

    BobbyD
    Member
    from Belmont NC

    Any parts house like auto-zone, advance or whatever is in your part of the country have what you need, they just don't know what it is. Ask for a standard igition part# VRC603, that should fix your problem..
     
  23. recardo
    Joined: Aug 31, 2006
    Posts: 833

    recardo
    Member
    from Winslow

    If they don't have that, ask for a VRC601 or a VRC602, VRC604.

    Hell, buy 10 of each, Ford will love you!
     
  24. scarylarry
    Joined: Apr 24, 2001
    Posts: 2,547

    scarylarry
    Member

    So would this voltage regulator work on 40 Ford guages with a SBC just installed at 12 volts ?
     
  25. 40Tudor
    Joined: Jan 1, 2002
    Posts: 635

    40Tudor
    Member

    Yup - That's exactly how I have mine set up. Works great on Temp, Fuel and Oil - not so good on the Batt gauge (it reads low all the time).

    Flat Ernie suggests a 60 Ohm resistor and no regulator for the Batt gauge, but I don't know of anyone who has gotten one working acceptabley, yet.
     
  26. recardo
    Joined: Aug 31, 2006
    Posts: 833

    recardo
    Member
    from Winslow

    I wonder if those things have a capacitor in them to filter the noise to ground? Seems like they would put out a lot of hash noise on a radio if the wires were bundled with the 12 volt ones, if they didn't.
     
  27. scarylarry
    Joined: Apr 24, 2001
    Posts: 2,547

    scarylarry
    Member

    Thanks 40. Did you use new electric senders or the early ones?
     
  28. 40Tudor
    Joined: Jan 1, 2002
    Posts: 635

    40Tudor
    Member



    Hmm.. I should really write down these part numbers...

    I used a modern electric fuel sender from Yogi's. Rather than following the setup directions, put the pivot close to the top of the tank like the early sender so the scale is right (1/2 full is really 1/2 tank).

    Oil pressure was from NAPA. The NAPA site is pretty detailed and tells you which are gauge senders, which are switches and what the pressure ranges are. I used the OP6091. It just barely fits next to the small distributor.

    Here's what I found - OP=oil pressure, TS=temperature sender.
    62 - 63 F100
    TS6464 $11.49
    OP6091 $14.49

    64 - 66 F100
    TS6178 $10.99

    66 - 69 F100
    TS6153 $10.99
    OP6091
    OP6091SB

    70 - 79 F100
    TS6628 $9.49

    Water temp was a tricky one. I gave in and used a repro flathead sender from Mac's - the one with a single contact. I think one of the 'TS' p/n's above would work - the Ohms @ temp varies between them as does the pipe thread and length.
     

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