Trying to Get Stock Fuel Gauge to Work!!

-
68Darthawaii

68Darthawaii

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
292
Reaction score
5
Location
Waianae, Hawaii
Hi! I have a 1970 Dart Swinger 318. I had this vehicle about a month now. We are trying to get the fuel gauge to work. So we pulled the dash out to see if we could get the gauge hooked up to work again. But there is no wires whatsoever for the fuel gauge. We looked and looked, nothing!!!! So any suggetions?? I know we can use an Autometer fuel level gauge, but something about the ohm rating of the sending unit needs to be close to the ohm specs of the Autometer gauge?????? Thanks for your help in advance!!!
 
look at the ground strap between the tank inlet line and the cars fuel line.do you have a factory service manual? that would give you step by step troubleshooting.
 
here is a quick little tip. first make sure that the sending unit is hooked up on the fuel float. it is on the front of the tank just above the rearend of the car. there would be a wire with a rubber boot stuck right over the terminal. (very similiar looking to a spark plug wire.) this wire goes from the tank throught the trunk and through the interior of the car to the harness connected to the back of the gauge cluster. 2nd make sure that the sending unit is grounded to the car. do this by getting a piece wire (preferably with alligator style clips on each end.) clip one to the fuel sending unit and the other to a good ground on the car. the tank or the frame rail will work perfectly. If it works, you're golden. mine was the 2nd part. the ground strap was missing. from the factory they came with a metal clip that went from the fuel sending unit to the fuel line. this grounded the float and made the gauge work. in my opinion 99% of the time it's going to be the ground strap.
 
You see no wires to the fuel gauge because the electrical connection is by way of the Printed Circuit Board which it mounts to. The wire for the gas gauge, which comes from the tank, plugs into this PCB.

You may want to start your troubleshooting by doing the easy stuff first. Put your dash back together, have someone temporarily pull the wire off the sending unit at the tank and ground it. With the key on monitor the gauge to see if it moves. If so the problem is at the tank, if not the problem is up front.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top