Tiderunner

[Rranger]

On the transom of my boat was this connector with a purple and white wire on it but needed new connection ends. When changing see there was a third wire but broke off only the connection end was still on the post. So a purple and white wire going from this transom connection point to the front for the fuel gauge. Any ideas what the third wire might have been a ground? Or maybe someone did a repair before and just never took the end off?

 

[StewartL]

The third wire was almost certainly the ground. The purple is power from the gauge and white is the signal from the sender. The ground is needed to complete the circuit for an accurate reading. Check for a black or bare wire that may have snapped off.