tgreese wrote: ↑Fri Oct 27, 2023 11:54 am You need to isolate the sender from the gauge, and test separately. The TSM has a chart that shows steps to diagnose gauge problems.
Suggest you look at the '82 TSM on the Tom COllins site. Section 1-L. The '82 book much better about the gauges than the '76 book, and they work the same.
There is a lot written about this topic in old posts.
The sender is connected to the gauge by a pink wire. There is a connector at the sender, and the sender must be grounded through the gas tank steel to the chassis.
If you lose connection between the sender and the gauge, or lose the tank ground, the gauge will go to empty.
The connector at the tank could be bad. The tank ground could be bad. The is a connector to the chassis harness under the driver's side footboard/floor.
You can ground the pink wire, either at the bulkhead connector (stick a pin in the back of the connector and ground it) or at the chassis harness connector (under the driver's floor). Don't leave it grounded for long, but grounding the sender wire should make the gauge move to full.
If the gauge goes to full, the problem is in the wiring or tank ground. If not, move closer to the dash and try grounding it again. Eventually you'll either find the wiring problem (gauge moves) or condemn the gauge or cluster.
Interesting. So how is my tank grounded if i painted the entire thing. And painted the strap ? Only the two bolts thr strap go in are welded to thr nee bed floor which is grounded to the frame its bolted too i assume.
Are you saying there is a connector at the tamk itself which i obvioualy know about as i repaired the tank by welding it etc.... and another below the drivers floor. Why two connectors for the same one wire ?
I wonder if my tank being painted and the strap is causing this issue. Need to figure out how to ground the tank.
Can i drill into those side lips on the tabk where the two parts are pincjed together and screw a snall screw and grounding wire to it and the frame. Or would that cause a leak. Dont think itd leak. Its just the flaps sticking outside the tank itself around itself