another fuel gauge question !

[Deadeyejedi80]

This is for my 1980 olds cutIass with the factory fuel gauge.I cant seem to get an answer on my particular issue. My fuel gauge will only go up a little past 1/4 when the tank is full. i replaced the sender and it does the same thing.I have a good shiny ground, when i test the fuel gauge it will go past full when disconnected and drop below empty when i ground it out .The thing i notice while doing these tests is the needle goes past full and back to empty very slowly .Ive done these tests on other cars and the needle seems to immediately jump up and down .all the testing im doing is back at the connection near the tank .Any help will be appreciated thank you

 

[fleming442]

It's going high resistance open. There are stops for the float arm. If your wiper contact falls into a weird (technical term) spot on the resistor board, you'll get funny readings. My suggestion is to pull the sender, put a meter on it, and inspect the operation carefully. It should read close to 90 ohms with the float arm on the top stop tab. Try pushing it past the limit lightly, and see what happens.

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

So is it possible if something wacky is going on with the wipers it could affect the gauge?the reason I ask is that every time I turn the wipers on the washers squirt continuously while the wipers are on . I don’t bother much with that because I rarely drive in the rain

 

[fleming442]

Check your dash grounds bY the e-brake, first. 2-3 ring terminals on a 10mm..... Pull the cluster and measure the ground resistance on the ribbon connector ground (should be very low if not 0).

 

[64nailhead]

I had a bad sending unit and gauge - go figure - what's the chance?

You're wiper/washer issue is a PITA to figure out if you've never had it working correctly because you could be battling someone installing the wrong motor for your setup. Be advised that the delay motor is different than the non-delay motor. And if someone has swapped in the wrong one and switch and 'fixed' the wiring to compensate, the geesh - good luck. If that's the case, the you need to find someone with a factory manual to prove out the wiring.

Oh wait, I have one of them for an '80 Cutlass (hehe). Let me know if you need some diagrams or whatever.

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

Thank

I had a bad sending unit and gauge - go figure - what's the chance?

You're wiper/washer issue is a PITA to figure out if you've never had it working correctly because you could be battling someone installing the wrong motor for your setup. Be advised that the delay motor is different than the non-delay motor. And if someone has swapped in the wrong one and switch and 'fixed' the wiring to compensate, the geesh - good luck. If that's the case, the you need to find someone with a factory manual to prove out the wiring.

Oh wait, I have one of them for an '80 Cutlass (hehe). Let me know if you need some diagrams or whatever.

thank
you I’ll keep it in mind when I tackle into

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

Looks like I may need a wiring diagram I’m not seeing these grounds fleming442 mentions and I may try to sort out the wiper issue first .I do have a non delay switch at the dash

 

[fleming442]

Some wiper motors are ground switched; that's why I suggested the grounds.

 

[Deadeyejedi80]

Fleming , I gotcha . I’m going to start there I’ll try to fix that issue first then move on to the fuel gauge . Thanks again