fuel gauge and trim gauge

[knightowl]

Got some new gauges, for some reason when ever i turn my boat on, both trim and fuel gauge needle go all the way "up" no matter if the outdrive is all the down or up it and for fuel all the way to "full" when theirs only half a tank left... I also bought a brand new fuel sender. Any tips why both of them are acting this way while rest of gauges work fine? thanks

 

[Bondo]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

Any tips why both of them are acting this way while rest of gauges work fine?

Ayuh,... They're shorted to ground,... Or their Senders are...

 

[knightowl]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

what do you mean shorted to ground? poor ground or too many ground? Ive ran a separate sender wire to test the sender and it didn't fix the problem.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

You have a short circuit between the "S" terminal on the gauge and ground.

 

[coastalcruiser]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

what they mean is your wire that carry power (+Positve) might be touching the (negative-) ground. Check that all the connections are in the right place.
What I do to test is use a voltmeter or a test light.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

what they mean is your wire that carry power (+Positve) might be touching the (negative-) ground. Check that all the connections are in the right place.
What I do to test is use a voltmeter or a test light.

Actually what they mean is the SENDER wire is shorting to ground.

If the positive wire was shorting to ground, you would open fuses or have fireworks!

If you have a multi-meter, disconnect the "S" wire and check the resistance at that wire and ground.

It should NOT be zero (ohms).......If it is, the wire itself is grounding out somewhere between the sender and the gage.

Some gages (VDO), have a ground connection that must be connected to a good ground.

Also, ensure that your fuel tank and/or your tank sender is properly grounded.



Cheers,


Rick

 

[Bondo]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

what do you mean shorted to ground? poor ground or too many ground?

Ayuh,... The gauge works by the Senders varying resistence to Ground.....

If the Sender Wire is shorted to Ground, it reads Full, Hot, or Up....
If it's an open circuit, it reads Empty, Cold, or Down,...

Either your senders are Bad,+ groundng out,...
Or the wire going from the gauge to the Sender is grounding out,...
Or,...
The gauges are just Bad....

 

[knightowl]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

Still have this issue. Heres the test ive done so far.

The gauge has 3 inlets. Ground Ignition and Sender I decided to wire brand new wires for this test. I also bought a BRAND NEW universal SENDING UNIT from a AUTO store. So here's what i did on my test. Took the gauge out.

1 * Hooked a wire to the positive terminal of the battery and connected it to the Ignition of the gauge.

2 * Hooked a wire to the NEGATIVE terminal of the battery and connected it to Ground of the gauge.

3 * Hook up a wire from the SENDER "middle pin" to the SENDER on the Gauge.

4 * Hooked another wire into the gauges GROUND pin and connected it to the GROUND on SENDER.

----------- I still get the same FULL reading. I also tried swapping out step #4 by hooking up the GROUND front the sending until the the Negative terminal of the battery to make sure of good ground but still no luck.


All this was ran but brand new wires. I also pulled the sending until out from the tank and still didn't work aswell. I don't understand, brand new sending unit and brand new gauge. Even tried an older gauge, still same thing... Could it be that the sending unit is running at a different amperage then the gauge?

 

[knightowl]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

bump.

 

[knightowl]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

bump.

 

[rbh]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

you are exactly right!
"most" gauges and senders will not mismatch, the mfgs use different resistance values for their products.
afraid you will have to buy the one specific to your gauge.
rob

 

[RangerDude]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

i wonder if there is a shared ground between them or something that affects both, because im having the same exact problem. both the fuel guage and trim guage are reading all the way up. this is on a 2002 glasstron.

 

[knightowl]

Re: fuel gauge and trim gauge

How come my trim works the same way? I will try to hard wire that too today and see what happens.