VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 fuel sending unit

Gage reads empty at all times. It makes a slight jump when the ign. switch is turned on. The wire from the tank has continuity. I've dropped the tank removed the sender and it is in good mechanical order including the cork floats. I hooked an ohm meter up to it and I can vary the ohms by moving the arm up and down but have no knowledge that this is a proper test. Any help would be appreciated.
BTW I'm getting the tank reconditioned while its out as I always get an accumulation of rust in the bowl.

What Year we talking about ??
Assuming a 30 or later, as my 1929 has NO sending unit just a gauge on the Tank itself.

You might have a grounding problem. Make sure that both the gas gauge and the gas tank have good grounds.

Years ago when I restored the car I found that I had to much paint on the tank and had to run a grd wire from one of the sender screws to the frame to make it work.
Thanxs for all the replies.

You bet and good luck!

If my sending unit is screwed to the tank with 6 screws,should I assume the unit is grounded if my tank has a good solid ground connection,or do I also need to seperatly ground the sending unit? Perhaps this is my problem also! Thanks as always,Jay

I would check the tank to chassis fit. When we repaired our 32 tank, I painted it with chassis black and had no reading on my gauge. The black paint isolated the tank from chassis ground so I just scraped some paint away where it contacted the chassis and it has worked fine. If I take it down again, I think I will place a ground wire from the tank to the chassis......
Mac

If your gas gauge is working then the answer is yes.

new gas guage does work---checked w/ohm meter before installing.
Tank IS well grounded to frame--no question---by straps and tank w/no paint where they meet & 12g. wire from tank to frame for to make real sure Dogster! Gauge always on "E" on dash though....

Did you check the sending unit to see if it is working?

Sorry Dog ---- brand new SENDING unit was checked with ohm meter and when float moved up & down,so did meter---so I deemed it to be okie dokie and installed ! Do not know about the gas gauge yet,will hopefully get out the property this weekend to investigate that part ! I was really asking about the whole grounding thing my friend...As stated in last post,tank is well grounded---not a doubt in my mind ----do the 6 screws ground the gauge by being screwed into the metal of the tank,or,do i need to ground THE GAUGE AS WELL ? My thouhts were that the screws grounded the gauge to the tank,which is grounded to the frame,should that be true? Thanks to all!!

Yes.

By the way, a "sending unit" is on the tank and a "gauge" is on the instrument panel.

One other thing to check is to make sure that the gas gauge needle is not hung up on the face of the gauge which would prevent it from moving. I have seen new gas gauges with that issue.

yep Dog,I got the whole sending unit/gauge ok in my mind,just sometimes I get it wrong when I write it down-but I know when I say "Imoved the float up and down" that the ol boys can figure out where i'm at !!!
Anyhow--removed the "GAUGE" and tested w/6v.source---sometime she a workie & sometimes not so much!! Seems like.as the Dog stated,it may be simply getting "hung-up" somewhere down below "e"---perhaps bent? I may try to open case unless you guys throw the red card!!!! Thanks,Jay

Yep, that could be your problem. You can carefully open up the case and then with a small pair of tweezers you can carefully move the needle and bend it slightly if needed. I have done it many times, and if you are careful you should be just fine.

Thanks for your advise and faith in me to not screw the pooch on this one Dog !! I am going to give it a shot today my friend!!

It definitely sounds like you have an issue with the gas gauge.

Good luck!

Yep, a ground wire was the gremlin. Gauge works good. Got the tank reconditioned, new pickup line and clean fuel and its good to go. Only now its almost time to put her away for winter.

Glad that you got the problem fixed. Cool!

Ya, when a gas gauge doesn't work, many times it turns out to be a ground problem.