64 valiant gauge problems

-
64val67gtx

64val67gtx

64 sl6val 2dr 67 gtx 4spd
Joined
Oct 14, 2011
Messages
152
Reaction score
5
Location
Eugene oregon
My fuel gauge intermittently works, all of a sudden. Everything has worked well since cars been on road. New sending unit. I have tried 2 different clusters I have power at gage. Anyone know a good way to test gauges? I now have no temp and no fuel thanks.
 
No fuel + no temp = bad cluster limiter. On the back of the gauge cluster there is a little metal can roughly the size of a Chiclet that plugs into a socket on the board. This little gem regulates the current through the gauges and when it goes bad the fuel and temp gauges no worky. You can replace it with a spare or make up an electronic one for less than 10 bucks in parts. There is a thread here that explains how to do this. Try a search for electronic cluster limiter or wait for redfish to chime in. Sorry I'm no more help than this....
 
grumpuscreature said:
No fuel + no temp = bad cluster limiter. ...
Click to expand...

These early cars had the limiter built into the fuel gauge, which has three terminals. The fuel gauge has

12v switched power INTO the gauge housing which feeds the limiter, and then the limiter feeds the fuel gauge internally as well as..............

a second terminal on the gauge which feeds limiter power OUT to the temp gauge

and last a third terminal which connects the fuel gauge to it's sender
 
This is a delicate matter and you can easily screw up the gauge. I'm not intimately familiar with these, but if you Google, there are photos on the www. Basically it involves removing the gauge, bending/ cutting the old unit out so that it does not short with the fuel gauge, and then either adapting a late replacement (external, non Ralley) or build your own. There are also several projects on the www concerning this.

Otherwise, find someone who commercially restores the unit.
 
I replaced the 5V cluster reg in my 65 Dart, and plan the same for my 64 Valiant. You don't need molest the wirewound arm in the fuel gage, I just covered mine w/ heat shrink to disable it. Search "voltage limiter" and "Plymouth" on ebay. Several sell an electronic one for $30 w/ shipping. Some have good photos and instructions.
 
That insrument cluster is stamped metal. It has small turned back corners that are supposed to hit the dash and complete the chassis ground path. The instrument panel wont function properly while dangling from the harness connectors and may not function properly when mounted in the dash if the ground isn't completed.
Even if the mechanical limter is replaced you would still need a ground path.
The daisy chain of parts and harware is not a conductor when compared to an actual copper wire. A perminant dedicated ground wire is strongly recommended.
 
Good pictures and procedure here: [ame]http://rt-eng.com/rte/images/e/e7/InternalLimiterFixUsingIVR3.pdf[/ame]

However, the article was written by the folks who want to sell you their limiter. No knock on the product, just sayin'....

You could PM RedFish, who is a regular contributor to this forum. He builds and sells another Instrument Voltage Regulator and he's very helpful and knowledgeable.

OR you can built a regulator for yourself, if you are at all technical and can solder. A little searching on the web will find a couple of methods.

ATB

BC
 
I've been trying to troubleshoot my fuel gauge on my 64 valiant convertible. The fuel sending unit was bad so I replaced it. I'm getting 70 ohms at the sending unit connector (1/4 full?) and at the connector behind the kick plate. The gauge sits on empty but if I connect the other side of the kick plate connector to ground the gauge goes to full. Temp gauge works fine also.

I ohmed out the connector so I know that's fine and I jumped out the connector to confirm that's not a problem. My next step is to fill the tank and see if I get any movement. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Too bad you couldn't have swung the arm manually while someone watched the gage, or tested both on the bench as I did. Anyway, 70 ohm = empty is close to factory spec, and 10 ohm = full as I recall. I added tweak resistors to the back of my circuit board to make it perfect, plus adjusted the voltage on my new electronic limiter (while not screwing up my temp gage readings). The new sender was a bit erratic until I popped of the cover and bent the wiper arm so it was tighter.

One guy here (Kit Carlson?) was considering selling an in-line box which would let you tweak the fuel readings perfect, and work on any U.S. car.
 
Good to see that old thread is still providing info to list members. I PMed redfish a while back, and he said he was out of the IVR business. I hope all is well with him.

BC
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top