Fuel Gauge Problem

[gwgautney]

I have been restoring my boat doing a complete rewire. I did not mess with the sending unit in the tank. It has been sitting for about two months. The problem I have is that when I hooked the gauge back up with same wires as used before the gauge is pegging out all the way to full when I turn the key on. It worked just fine before all this so it has me puzzled. I don't know if I may have hooked up something wrong or what. It has one terminal on the sender and then a tab for grounding on the tank. It is an aluminum tank. Any help would be appreciated. Also I cant seem to get the light on the gauge to come on either. The bulb looks good to me, not saying it isn't bad.

 

[64osby]

Your gauge is getting 12v +. You either have a short or your sender has shorted out would be my .02.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Most fuel gauges have four wires in the back. One is for lights (usually blue), one for +12vdc from the key switch (usually purple) and one for the tank sender (usually pink), last, one for Ground (usually black). Make sure they are correct, the gauge will have the posts or spades marked with and "I" for ignition, and and "S" for sender. The others may or may not be marked and ground might be just the case.

 

[gm280]

Not knowing your wiring setup, is there a ground wire going from the tank to the fuel gauge? Sounds like they may have used the boat as the ground. That is a no no :nono: You need to run the ground with the sensor wire to the gauge. If that still doesn't solve your problem then you could have either a defective gauge or sensor/sender in the tank... Using the aluminum hull as the ground is asking for corroded connections and that could be your problem as well. But don't use the hull as your ground. Run good clean wires for no more problem... JMHO!

 

[UncleWillie]

I have been restoring my boat doing a complete rewire. I did not mess with the sending unit in the tank. It has been sitting for about two months. The problem I have is that when I hooked the gauge back up with same wires as used before the gauge is pegging out all the way to full when I turn the key on. It worked just fine before all this so it has me puzzled. I don't know if I may have hooked up something wrong or what. It has one terminal on the sender and then a tab for grounding on the tank. It is an aluminum tank. Any help would be appreciated. Also I cant seem to get the light on the gauge to come on either. The bulb looks good to me, not saying it isn't bad.

Based on the verbal evidence ....
It used to work.
You removed and reinstalled the wires.
The gauge pegs and the lamp is dark.

If the sender and Lamp wires were swapped,
The 12v lamp Power would Peg the gage, and the sender signal would Not light the lamp.

 

[tpenfield]

Sounds like, you hooked up something wrong . . .

 

[Fed]

If your wiring is correct then a pegged out full gauge would indicate a grounded sender wire.

 

[64osby]

Nice post Fed. :thumb:

 

[gwgautney]

Not sure what I had done but I went back and unhooked everything and rerouted wires and hooked everything up making sure everything was clear. Everything is back to normal now. Thanks for the input guys. I tell you I have learned a lot with this forum. I am restoring everything on my 1985 20' Proline and wouldn't have been able to do half of it without you guys thanks a bunch