VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 Gas gauge question

I'd appreciate some clarification about the two wires going to the gas gauge. I am just finishing up putting in a new wiring harness from YnZ. Their instructions say that the wire from the ignition switch goes to the passenger side (PS) of gas gauge, and the wire from the taillight harness (sending unit) goes to the driver's side (DS) of the gas gauge. But the PS post (fat terminal) on the gas gauge has the warning red tag saying that attaching a hot wire to that side may burn out the sending unit.

When I test the two wires, the wire from the ignition switch is hot (6 V) and the wire from the taillight harness has the right resistance (about 15 ohms for a tank half full). Thanks for any clarification about which wire goes to which gas gauge post. Also, if my gas gauge is no longer working, is Bowtiebits.com a good place for testing/repair?

Call them and see what they say. I had a problem with one of the gages and the instruction sheet. They straightened it out for me.

To me it looks like the terminal shown in the photo is the driver's side terminal. If the photo was taken from the back side of the cluster looking toward the driver, the driver would be on the right side of the photo as viewed.

I uploaded a new image that was correctly rotated. The photo was taken from behind the dash (looking toward the driver) so the fat terminal on the left with the red tag is on the passenger side. Sorry for the unclear initial post.

Makes more sense now. Looking at the wiring diagram it does indeed put the hot wire on the passenger side. I'd be inclined to go with the diagram. Unless you've had the car since new, one never knows who might have possibly put that warning tag on the wrong terminal by mistake. Or it could be an aftermarket gauge that was put on sometime in the past that was made differently. Only speaking for myself, I'd be tempted to attach the ground wire (wire to the sending unit) and momentarily touch the hot wire as shown in the diagram. If the gauge reads correctly you're probably home free. As Keith said a call to YNZ sure can't hurt. I've not had to have any gauges repaired so I can't help there. Good luck with it. Wish I could have been more help.

You could maybe take it out and look at it. Internally the gauge has 2 coils.

The power terminal connects to one end of both coils.

The other end of one coil is grounded.

The other end of the second coil goes to the sending unit terminal.

The gauge is out so I’ll check that asap. Thanks for the helpful info.