Thanks for all the initial feedback.
Will read this more carefully later today.
All other gauges work, somewhat;
Fuel seems mostly OK, but can lose 1/4 tank between start cycles
Alternator seems spot on
Water Temp works, but is slow to react, that may be a thermostat issue though since I only get needle deflection when car is truly hot.
Cheers
Craig/QUOTE]
The fuel gauge has a slither of metal on its backside that meets a unpainted spot in the back of the housing, to provide chassis ground for the limiter. The fiber board on the back of gauges distorts with age, the nuts at mounting studs become loose and the limiter ground degrades too.
A faulty limiter will cause wild needle swings and intermittently varying gauges. A few of our members have found the limiters ground to be the only problem. Majority end up replacing the limiter with outboard solid state regulator. Understand that this wouldn't be the oil gauge issue. It should work as poorly as the other 2 thermal gauges on the one limiter supply.
If the gray oil sender wire did short to ground, some limiter damage could have occurred before the oil gauge died. Best solid state regulator comes from Real Time Engineering. It mimics the mechanical limiters quick warm up at switch on and also includes ground fault protection. Thats why it costs about 55 USD. You'll need a couple feet of wire to add to it so you can mount it somewhere under the dash. There isn't a good place for it on the back of this inst' panel.
