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Of fuel gages

jlaird

Great Pumpkin
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My fuel gage which was gifted to me seemingly does not work. Input is about 12 volts, almost full fuel tank.

Is shows 1/8 of a tank no matter what I put in it.

My guess is that the guage is bad, would you concur?

I would expect 12 or 13 volts on a full tank and 6 for half a tank etc etc??
 
The sender is a variable resistor to ground. If you ground the green/black (I *think* that's the stripe color, not certain!) wire at the sender it ~should~ send the gauge to "FULL". If it doesn't, the gauge or the wire is faulty. If it does read "FULL" the sender is bad. Be sure to check the Lucar connector where the rear harness is plugged into the front part (to the gauge).
 
Green 13V to one side of the guage, ground the other side I get 1/8 reading, same as when I put the green/black to the other side. I think I am getting a good reading, full voltage from the sending unit just that the guage is not cooperating, as I use fuel I will check again and keep an eye out for a BE guage on eBay I guess.

Just put 5 gal in the tank the other day, so it must be full or almost full at least as far as the sending unit is concerned.
 
Yup. Sounds like the gauge is "actin' th' goat".
 
Yep, my thoughts as well. The orginial one I had did that but at just less than 1/2 so I was given one and it reads 1/8. Well we did not know if it worked when we started so.......... the thought was good.

Guess I am in the market for a BE fuel gage, sigh.
 
Jack, if your BE is like my midget then you should only have 10v going to one side of the guage and the other side goes through the variable resister (float) to ground. You get the 10v from the voltage stabilizer that was used on a lot of european cars. I'm sure that there are threads about those on here somewhere. Your gauge might be stuck. You can take them apart and work on them, just be careful, its like a watch. I have the stuff to convert your stabilizer to solid state if you need it and I will work on your gauge if you can't get it working. just send it to me.
 
There you go Jack, and it will keep Kim busy with something LBC while his knee mends! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
No voltage stabilizer on a Bugeye, the gauges all work off the standard voltage of whatever the battery/generator is giving off at the time.
 
Drew said it before I could. How does that effect your capability Kim?? Gosh knows this one needs someone in the know to look at it.
 
Hate to be a killjoy, but: is it possible you've a gauge from a later car and not the induction coil one? The one on the right is an older induction type. Note connector locations.
 
Mine is all nuts, and does have the adjusting nuts as well Doc. It looks like a Bugeye guage.

Sure wish you were right.
 
Was just a thought. Seems Nisonger is the answer, Jack.
 
Mine looks like the one on the left. Do you think this is my problem?

Will the one on the left work with a BE sending unit?
 
According to Doc it needs a voltage stabilizer to work properly.

Just sent Nisonger an email telling them of my need and asking for a ball park price. Face and ring on this guage is just fine. Only need internals fixed or adjusted or what ever.
 
Jack, of the two I offered you, the one I still have matches the one on the right in the pic. Doc. has posted above. If you would like to try that one instead, lets swap! As I recall, you picked that one because the face was correct. Well, remove the face and keep it and I can do the same if you wish! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
healeyboz said:
So I need to send mine in as well?

These are two different animals, Boz. The pre-stabilizer gauge (right in photo) has two coils and a magnet movement. Other is a bi-metallic movement and needs a 10V steady voltage to operate. The senders aren't the same IIRC.
 
I think that the both of you need to verify that the grounds on the gauges are good. As I recall that is very important for this circuit to work.
Bill
 
It works the same weather I use the green/brown wire ground from the sending unit or ground straight to the stearing wheel shaft. Grounding the guage per say has no effect at all. The green wire has full battery voltage.

So the tank sending unit actually adjusts the strength of the ground, hehe. That is if electricy flows like water which I am not sure of. Never trusted the military instructors on that one.


Mike, let me see what this repair out fit charges first. Then if they stupid expensive we can work a deal some how.
 
So If it is not fried I am sure it is now! I hooked the green black wire to the post closest to the driver side door and the green to the other post. I hooked a ground to the middle connector. I thought this was supposed to be ground. The black wires that are running there are not grounded. Fried the ground wire that I was running. Probably the gauge too??? Should I connect a ground to the green/black wire and post? Which side should they be on?
 
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