73 Duster after market fuel gauge with stock sending unit

[duston15]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows of a cheap aftermarket gauge for the stock sending unit for a 73 gold Duster with the Slant 6. I am just looking for something cheap to get me by for a year or 2, until I can get the money to take on the interior...Right now I just want to drive it and debug it, but my fuel gauge has not worked since I got the car.


Thanks

 

[TrailBeast]

Checker auto carries a $20 gauge that is the right ohms called Equis I think it was.
You can look them up online. 73 - 10 ohms if I remember right.

 

[67Dart273]

My question is

"how do you know"

it's the gauge?

and not the sender?

or something simple?

 

[duston15]

I don't know for 100% that it is the guage...I just read that a risistor in the gauge frequently fails...The car sat in a WY junk yard for 20 + years...I removed the tank, cleaned it, and put in a new fuel sending unit before breaking in the new motor. This the fuel gauge worked for maybe 10 mintues during the motor break in (had about 5 gallons of fuel in the tank and read a bit above a quater tank) Then next time I went to move it, it was stuck on empty and hasnnt moved now in a year

 

[67Dart273]

I've posted many threads here on checking out gauges

The QUICK check is to simply unhook the sender wire, ground it, then turn on the key for a few seconds and see if it moves.

Does the temp gauge work?

Here, read this:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=207604&highlight=gauges

 

[duston15]

So, I did some testing this weekend and this is what I found.

When I hooked up a grounded test light to the wire that connects to the sending unit. The light on the sending unit blinks at a rate of about once per second. When it is grounded the fuel gauge would slowly rise, and stop at about 1/4 tank. I hooked the sending unit wire back up to the sending unit, and added an additional ground from the sending unit to the frame, which didnt help.

The sending unit is less than a year old, so I would think that is not it...Any ideas what the issue is?

 

[duston15]

Also, I ran a grounding wire from the sending unit, to a clean spot on the frame

 

[duston15]

Should the light be pulsing like it is?

 

[SRT_DSTRHOLC]

The issue with after market gauges are they are set up for non linear fuel senders...Original or most aftermarket senders are linear now. If you mix them up you could get false reads. And I might have my linear and non linear mixed up, but thats behind of it anyways.

 

[RedFish]

Should the light be pulsing like it is?

The original mechanical limiter supplied a pulse voltage to the gauges so the blinking you saw is normal. You would see the same at a temp or oil gauge sender.

 

[BillGrissom]

Next step is to measure the resistance of your sender. If you don't care to crawl back under the car, you can access the wires at the "body connector" behind the driver's kick panel. Get a wiring diagram (search here) and multimeter (free w/ Harbor Freight coupon).

Oops. Well above is still good for the sender, but I noticed that you grounded the sender wire and gage only read 1/4 tank when should have gone past full. Your gage is likely OK and the problem is the 5 V regulator, the thing that makes the pulsing. That is an archaic thermal-mechanical device, the shiny rectangular can plugged in the rear of the dash. New ones are >$50, but better to get a new electronic replacement for $30. Search for "Dodge" or "Plymouth" "voltage limiter" on ebay (seller pink something) or see posts here for other vendors. BTW, your temp gage also uses that 5 V source. Does it read correct? Also, at last count a similar question has been asked >500 times recently on FABO so use search for more info.