[Troya]

I need some help with my fuel gauge. All of the sudden it stoped working .

I've checked all my basics. I checked and re-checkedall the fuses. I have power to the wire going to the sending unit. I 've cleaned and re secured the ground wire next to the fuel tank.

My gauge reads empty all the time no matter if i disconnect the sending unit or if i ground the tan wire at the connector in the trunk. No matter what i do the needle stays on empty no matter what.
From one day to another it stopped working.

Any suggestions?????
Thank you in advance.

 

[Custom Jim]

What were your results for power and ground on the back of the gauge you were going to check on after December 3rd ?.

The next step since you have done what you can with the sending unit wire in the rear of the car is to take the dash or console apart and see what's going on up there. You need three things for the gauge to work. Power, ground and a sending unit signal (variable resistance of 0-90 ohms).
It's possible the gauge is broke, a connection on the flexible circuit board is bad if the gauge is in the dash, the main connector going into the speedometer cluster if the gauge is in the dash, a break in a wire somewhere, a poor connection, and a lot of other possible problem area's.

Jim

 

[Troya]

Well since December 3rd i have been working on other parts of my Nova. I'll begin taking the cluster in order to inspect the circuit board. It seems weird that the gauge would brake while the car is in storage since December 3rd. Thank you again for the advise.

 

[Custom Jim]

Well since December 3rd i have been working on other parts of my Nova. I'll begin taking the cluster in order to inspect the circuit board. It seems weird that the gauge would brake while the car is in storage since December 3rd. Thank you again for the advise.

I've seen plenty of things working one day and then not the next. Things happen. You just have to find out what happened, figure out what might have caused the problem, and then correct things.

I think you have done all you can in the back of the car with the sending unit wire. Now it's time to check things up front.

Jim

 

[mrtimstik]

I had gone thru and diagnosed my fuel gauge to be operational electronically when it read "E" all the time so I pulled the pick-up out of the tank and found the plastic float cracked and full of fuel. Replaced that and now all is well.

OK, that was the quick story, there was actually a bunch of swearing in-between all that.

 

[Troya]

fuel gauge

thank you for your responce. I am going to give it a shot and see if the float on my sending unit is ok. If not i'm going to have to remove the cluster and inspect the gauge. Question, Is there any other way to check the gauge with out physically removing it from the dash?

 

[Custom Jim]

thank you for your responce. I am going to give it a shot and see if the float on my sending unit is ok. If not i'm going to have to remove the cluster and inspect the gauge. Question, Is there any other way to check the gauge with out physically removing it from the dash?

With you grounding and not grounding the tan wire for the sending unit and the gauge now moving I really doubt there is a flaot problem (but who knows you could have multiple things that need repair).

It could be a connection between the sending unit and the backside of the instrument panel and to check this you need to find out where a factory disconnect plug is at in the loom and disconnect the tan wire and then on the side that goes to the gauge try shorting the tan to ground or leaving it off of a ground and see if the gauge moves. If not then you will have to take the instrument panel loose and not so much physically take the gauge out but use a combination of a meter and and some jumper wires to see what is good and what isn't. The last resort is to take the gauge out and troubleshoot it on a bench to remove it from any variables in the car.

You could also have a pinch in the wire loom behind the driver's kick panel where the wire from the sending unit and the rear lighting wires are at.

Jim

 

[Troya]

fuel gauge

finally i got my fuel gauge to work. This might be unuthordox, (i think thats how its spelled) After checking and re-checking wires and fuses and finding nothing. I did what any other good tech would do. I hit the cluster close to the gauge, and to my surprise the gauge now works.
my next step is to buy a gauge. Anyway thank you all for the inputs.

 

[Custom Jim]

With the "Smack and it works" I would think there is a loose connection somewhere and it may not be on the gauge itself and this is why I think you should do some more checking before buying anything new (unless you have money to burn). While a new gauge and fresh connections to it may correct the problem, it may not.
Jim

 

[Nova_Guy]

With the "Smack and it works" I would think there is a loose connection somewhere

My wife uses that tactic on me several times a week. She claims I have a loose connection.

 

[Troya]

jajajaj. My wife is the same, i wonder if its us or the women??

 

[harleynovaman]

My wife has done the same for 30 years...the connection remains loose! :beer: :beer: