Bad gas gauge?

Not sure if proper and for those w/o meter, but it worked for me. I went to radio shack spent about a buck and bought 20 ohm resistor (1/2 tank).
disconnected the harness in the left kick panel connected one end to the sender wire and grounded the other - gauge worked.
disconnected wire at sender and checked with resistor there gauge worked.
pulled sender - float and rheostat was melted from sitting so many years.
Replaced sending unit gauge worked fine.