Inliners International Forums General Discussion Electrical Fuel Guage Malfuncion

I brought my 56 Chevy pickup out of a 3 year dry heated storage, no gas in the tank and no battery. After adding a few gallons of fresh gas and starting it up the gas guage pegged itself on full, then danced around a bit, then read just above empty (which was correct), then pegged itself on full again. So..would this be a lack of power or bad ground? Also..temp guage shows no sign of life. Any ideas?

Dear Canuck;

The fuel guage sender wire may be touching ground. This will make it read 'full' when not etc.

The temp guage may be 'open' or have a bad sender/lose connection. To test; Ground the wire where it goes to the sender on the head. If it reads hot the sender is bad, if nothing theres no power in the circuit or 'open'.

Good luck, John M.....

The temp gage, if original, is a mechanical unit. It probably has a bad capillary tube. It will need to be replaced or sent for repair to a place that rebuilds old style gages. It has no connection to the problem with the fuel gage. It sounds like a bad connection (an open) between the fuel gage and the tank unit. Joe

Thanks guys....but the problem seems to have solved itself...I started the truck today and both worked right off.....strange...lol...