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Fuel snding unit question please?


John_Mc

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Guys, my gauge doe not work. Is there a pattern failure with these?? I found the trap door and I've thankfully was able to loosen all the screws. It has two wires that are joined at the center. Is there a trick to these?? Not sure how to go about repairing the thing.

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John:

The unit is basically a viable resistor to ground. You can ground the wire that goe to the fuel gauge withI the ignition on, and should get a full scale reading. If that work, remove screws that hold the sending unit in the tank and take out the sending unit (no smoking!) and see if the float is free to move. Possible problems are rusted in position float support, gas in the float, and bad resistor. Might need to send to a re builder, I've had poor luck with after-market replacements. Likely will need a new gasket as well.

Abe

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Is wish it was as abelincoln described but unless it has been changed in the past, it is not from the factory a variable resistor type. It is a "King-Seely" type. The "King-Seely" type uses a set of points with a bimetallic strip. Unless you are into instrumentation I will save you the trouble of trying to understand how it works. Be aware that the gas gauge is of the same type as is the temperature and oil pressure senders/gauges.

i believe one can change these out to a variable resistor senders and will soon find out for sure as I am bench testing the temp gauge right now. One thing I already know is that the units are very voltage sensitive with variable resistors. I plan on installing 5 volt regulators at the gauges to bypass this problem.

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Thanks guys, I took the power lead off the center of the gauge and grounded it - no movement at all. Then I checked for power at that lead and found nothing. I did remove the sending unit and it appears to be a 100% original unit based upon the shop manual. The arm moves freely and using a continuity meter, I do see a voltage change registering. So, I guess my first move would be to see why there is no power going back to the sender.

On another note, I did ground the water temp sending unit and with the iginition on the needle jumped to hot within seconds so it appears I just need to get a new sending unit. Am I on the right track with these issues???? Thanks for all the input.

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I'm back in the shop and looked at my reference material to be sure. This is what's printed...

Lincoln, 1935...King-Seeley Hydrostatic

Lincoln, 1936-46...King-Seeley Electric

You can still buy these sensors from a company called Atwater-Kent.

As I said before, these type senders are not the variable resistor type. The controlling element is a bi-metal strip that has a heater coil warped around it. There is a set of contacts connected in series so the current from the battery, to the dash unit, and to the grounded contact in the tank complete the circuit.

I misstated one thing. The gauge does not have the contacts. It just has a heater wire wraped around a bi-metal strip.

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