Brand new electric 82211 Fuel Guage, a brand new 385C-F Sender. I have good grounds on the sender, and the guage, I am getting current to the sender. I am not registering any fuel level. There is a full tank of gas. I have done everything but pull the sender out of the tank. 32 and its not as easy as changing a tire. I spend the latter part of this morning testing grounds, testing hot wires etc. Never had this issue before, its not like its hard to wire up. I have searched the threads here and nothing really was applicable to my situation. I even considered running a hot wire from another source to the guage and a ground wire closer to the block ground on the engine. I get full 12 volts at the hot side of the guage. Stewart Warner tech could only offer ground as a cause. Even tried a second guage thinking I damaged the one in the car. Same result.
Hate to say it, but you need to pull out the sender/& float unit, then check it out-outside the tank. I think the problem is a faulty float level.----Don
Looks like you have the right combo. Should read 29 - 35 ohms off the sender when tank is full. 240-250 ohms empty. If I remember right, three wires to gauge. One ground, one sender, one 12 V source. S-W catalog - http://www.stewartwarner.com/Catalog/fuel240.html
Hook up a test light to the sender side of the gauge,ya get a reading then gauge OK. Do the same at the tank terminal of the sender,reading then wire to tank etc. all OK. That means it 99.99% is in the sender,float fell off etc.
...or maybe it's one of those new POS, made in Mexico, SW gauges that are total **** straight out of the box. JH
what is the gauge reading now? i have had a couple bad SW fuel gauges in the past few years , and since the sender is hard to get to i suggest you test the gauge first. take the wire off the back of the gauge that goes to the sender. with the wire off the gauge should read empty . then use a jumper wire from that terminal to a ground temporarily ....the gauge should go to full. of course , you need power to the gauge while doing this testing if the gauge goes from empty to full the gauge is probably good and then you need to check your sender
I want to get a scope to see if I can see if the float is attached. Right, and for an encore I will p*** a camel through the eye of a needle. Changed guages, in case I had a bad one. Same results. There is the old stick trick I guess.
sending unit needs to be grounded. usually the screws that fasten it to the tank do this. could they not be making a good ground? paint?
Ground the sender wire and it should make the gauge go to full. If it goes to full start checking the sender.
Good luck I just instaled a full set of Wings and 2 of the six were junk. And yes they were wired correctly and now Im waiting on two new ones. Unfortunatly the new box was on my shelf longer than the waranty. Warning to anyone buying S&W wings , if they all work it was just luck.
me , 440roadrunner and Auto shop have all said how to test the fuel gauge to see if it is working properly...have you done this? let's first see if the gauge is OK. to diagnose do one step at a time , isolate potential problem ares and eliminate them so all you have left is the problem if the gauge is working , then it has to be in either the wire going to the sender , the sender , or the ground for the sender not trying to bust your balls...but you did ask for help and it doesn't seam like you are listening
Listening is relative, and its a two way street. I have tried all of what is suggested, and I had part of the rear of the car off so I could reach the sender to check the ground wires. I have good ground at that point. I have current. The only thing left is the sender. That will be where I have to lift the body and I really do not feel like doing that right now. Not to mention the fact I am wary of the same old same old, you test, you retest and find out its something else. Granted a gas guage is straight forward, but if I am going to monkey around with this to this degree, I should switch to a stock 32 guage. I appreciate all the help.
go to radio shack, buy some 33 ohm resistors, and some 220 ohm resistors. Connect a 33 ohm resistor between the sender wire and ground. See what the gage reads. Repeat using a 220 ohm resistor. Should tell you pretty quick if the gage is working.
I am fighting the same issue, my float showed (on the ohm meter) 0 empty, 6 ohms with a 2 gallon fill and 60 after a quick fill at the pump, gauge reads at 1/2 empty when full, and full when half empty. time to try a new gauge.
Check the ground (sender) terminal on your guage to be sure it isn't grounding to the guage case. I suffered the same .. and found the ground (sender)terminal of the guage was grounding to the guage case ... took the nut off and insulated it and presto guage works.
I had a problem with a stewart warner guage and sending unit, after a lot of time jacking with it I took it back, the guy at Napa was really nice and took a lot of time trying to find out the problem, it was because someone had stocked an incorrect one in the box which caused the gauge and sending unit not to match up with the correct ohms but according to the stock number on the box they should have, got it changed out and no problem.......... I doubt that this is you problem, but................. good luck with yours,
53 Sled, all my paperwork is at the shop, but I seem to remember that the SW sender for using a GM gauge works backward than the one for SW gauge. And like Sundown says, they could have supplied the wrong sender in the box, so you'll have to check the number on the sender itself. The difference in resistance is considerable, and IIRC reversed on the two. Ken 1939, this may also be your problem. SW has this info online if you'll look for it. Dave
yeah, GM senders were 0 empty 30 full until the mid 60s, then they changed to 0 empty 90 ohms full. SW gages and some others are "backwards" so if you use a GM sender with a SW gage it'll read backwards and the wrong scale.
WTF??????? Just because you ain't getting the answer you want, you want to close the ****ing thread? What kinda ***hole are you? We try to offer thoughts on possible or even probable causes to your problem and you want thje thread closed? Well, you can go piss up a rope!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dave
yes, please close it... there is an old saying that may apply here....you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink
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