fix-a-gauge Fuel?

[eric67m]

I recently bought a fix a gauge fuel. I would assume that it replaces the old resistor on the back of the gauge. The supplied instructions make it sound like it goes over the top of the old resistor.

("#2 With wrench, loosen both nuts under white ceramic plate. Remove nuts. Turn ceramic plate over (painted side towards gauge.) Install nuts.")

Does anyone have any experiance with this product. If so your input would be appreciated.

[70c10]

I would assume you throw the old one away and install this one painted side towards gauge like it says. I have never used one though.

[matt67350]

When you turn the old one over it just becomes a spacer.
I have one and it works great. Also used the one for the temp gauge.

[byrd]

I use their products all the time in my restorations anad they are great and make the gauges more accurate as well!! Randy

[eric67m]

My gauge has been replaced but the old resistor is still on there. Working from the gauge towards the outside I have.

Fuel gauge
plastic spacer
flat washers
nuts
printed circuit board
old resistor piece
washers
nuts

I dont understand what is painted on one side. The old resistor has metal on both sides and therefore could not be a spacer. I'm not getting something. What is it?

[byrd]

They are referring to a porcelian(sp) spacer, it says it on their web site when you order. If your truck has the old style very thin resistor(non porcelian) then just take it off and just use the plastic piece as your insulating barrier, and install the new resistor over top of the plastic piece. Randy

[eric67m]

Thank you BYRD for the clarification. I guess mine is the older style. I will install it tonight.

[5150]

Sorry for having a stupid question, but what are the point of these?

[badpeanut]

I don't have any experience with the fix-a-gauge, but the factory ceramic resistors seem to be fairly standard. I used one from a '79 Caprice to fix my '72 truck.

[5150]

Okay, I bought one of these, but like eric67m I can't understand the directions. After reading all of these posts I'm still confused.

Does anybody have any pics of this or pics of the back of the fuel gauge?

I believe the kind of resistor I have is that it has white on the ends and looks like wire wrapped around it in the middle(sorry for the crappy desription).

[byrd]

Bryan,
You have the old style resistor, just remove the resistor totally from the gauge and leave the brown plastic piece and there and place the fork lugs of the new fix a gauge where the resistor was(across the two top studs on fuel gauge) securing it with the nuts that were removed to get the old one off. The brown plastic piece needs to stay, and the new resistor on top.Take a look at my auction for a restored white faced cluster, if you look at the picture showing the back of the cluster you can see the fix a gauge resistor that I installed on the temp gauge. This should clears things up for you http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMESE%3AIT The picture shows the resistor installed over top of the old porcilian resistor, I'm sure I have got some old not any good porcilian resistors that you can have for the cost of shipping, if you want to do it that way. LMK if this is what you needed to know.

Randy

[5150]

Okay, I installed it and it didn't fix my gauge. Now knowing that I'm an idiot and my truck has some electrical problems I'm posting the pic of the back of the fuel gauge. I'm wanting some guys to look and see if I put everything back on in the right order. About a year ago I got those white overlays and I might have put the cluster back together wrong. Can anybody tell by the pics?

[5150]

ttt

[byrd]

everythings looks fine to me, are you sure you have power to the gauge? have you tried to ground out the sending unit to check the wiring?

[5150]

Yes, I've grounded the sending unit and got no response from the gauge.

My printed circuit looks like it's ripping a little bit around the stud on the driver's side around the fuel gauge.

I think I'm down to changing the gauge and the printed circuit and then I'm done because it just won't work.

[5150]

I have NO POWER at the pink wire on the plug that goes into the dash above the fuel gauge. Now I'm back to squar one. And before anybody asks the fuse isn't blown.

[5150]

ttt

[boundstaffpress]

Not to highjack this thread, but I went to the fix-a-gauge site, and didn't see my symtoms. My gauge moves all the way across the sweep, but I put in 8 gallons of gas, and It went from empty to way past full.

Is this something that a fix-a-gauge resistor will fix. Just wanted to check before I bought one.

[5150]

Sounds like it's your float/sender.

I'm going to post a WTB: Dash Harness on the parts board. I don't know what else to do.

[69TowRig]

"Not to highjack this thread, but I went to the fix-a-gauge site, and didn't see my symtoms. My gauge moves all the way across the sweep, but I put in 8 gallons of gas, and It went from empty to way past full. "


I had the same problem until today. If the truck was empty, the gauge showed empty. Much above that it would either bounce around or peg the needle past full.

I pulled the sender, took it apart, and found that the wirewind had a broken turn in it up near the top (where the resistance is lowest and it would show <1/4 tank). I cleaned, sanded, and prepped the area, soldered across the break on the edge of the wirewind, just enough to bridge the gap, cleaned the copper wipe contact, wirewind, and all the grounding paths (including the brass washer), overextended the spring to get more "push" to hold the contacts together, and slapped it all back together.

The gauge actually works now, no more bouncing, rock-steady (until I slam on the brakes and slosh fuel around that is).

The time to drop the tank sucked (mine's a K5) but the time spent actually fixing the sender was about 30 minutes.

Maybe that tidbit of info will help you out.

[69TowRig]

So if the fuse isn't blown, iand power is getting to the fuse, have you determined that it is just the pink wire going from the fuse block to the dash connector? If it is just the wire run you a new one, forget about an entire harness, too much work. Temporarily, get a couple paper clips and an alligator-clip jumper wire and send some 12V power to the dash connector directly from the fuse block. See if that fixes it.