Fuel Gauge HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!!!!

[poorpeet]

Right then, no life at the gauge at all.
There is 12v at the green wire on the back of the gauge.
There is continuity between the other three wires at the back of the gauge and the corresponding three wires on the sender connections.
With the ign on there is 12v on the green & black wire at the tank.
So Volts at (and thru?) gauge & volts at tank but no fuel level indication. I know there is at least 3 gallons in the tank.
Can any one tell me how to test if it is a fault with the gauge or a fault with the sender.
The wiring diagram in Steve Heaths book is no help as it is for an early Griff which had only one wire to the tank.
I'm not an electrician & I don't know what to do next.

[Cider Andy]

I don't have a record of what colour wire goes where at the sender, but you can unbolt it from the top of the tank. From memory, one end of the rheostat (wirewound resistor) in the tank, operated by the float, goes to ground and the other is fed back to the top of the sender unit via a red wire.

The wire windings are easy to see. The brass wiper has possibly worn them out or it's not touching them. It can be bent slightly to increase its pressure on the windings.

If you have a multimeter you should be able to measure the resistance of the windings which will indicate if they've gone open circuit. Similar checks between the end of the windings and the wiper, and the other end of the windings and ground will indicate continuity.

Mine started giving various false readings when the tank was around half full. Bending the wiper sorted it.

[poorpeet]

Thanks for the info. Do you happen to know what the sender came from in case I need a new one?

[paulathome]

Not sure what the sender was off but Clever trevor has some here.

http://www.clever-trevor.net/tvr-part-category/14-...

Hope that helps.
Paul.

[poorpeet]

Thanks Paul,
I stripped out the sender this morning & all looked ok until I touched some of the internal contacts & they just crumbled away. I soldered them back roughly & it now works after a fashion. So a new should sort me out.

Pete

[poorpeet]

Just looked at the Clever Trevor site & its the wrong type of sender Mine has three (four if you count the earth)
wires. That looks like a Griffith one. My gauge has a low fuel level light in it. Maybe thats the difference.

Pete

[johnbear]

Had a look ay my fuel sender. It doesn't represent the fuel levels in the tank. You can set it for an accurate 1/2 tank, but there will be at least an 1/8 tank left below empty and another 1/8 or more above full.