Guest redcrow Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 My gas gauge is stuck on full in my 1960 Buick Invicta. Is this a common problem? Also the wipers do not work either. They actually work but do not shut off. I unhooked the wiring harness from the wiper motor to turn them off. With the wiring harness plugged in I get a slight shock when messing with the wiper switch so I am beginning to think it's in the switch and not in the motor itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NTX5467 Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 There probably should be a "park switch" inside of the motor, to tell the motor to "park" rather than to just stop (as if you unplugged the power connector from the motor). Might need to be cleaned or something?The gas gauge works off of a ground-type system. Check the harness for chaffed or otherwise compromised insulation in the gauge's wiring harness.Just some thoughts,NTX5467 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanZverina Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 I had a similar problem on my '60 Electra sedan. Turned out the gas gauge wire (brown) that's part of the harness that runs down the left side of the car under the door sills was chafed at the point where it comes near the rear seat frame and floorpan. You may want to check there first. Mine was an intermittent problem, and I finally realized that the gauge would go to full when I had some weight on the back seat. (I bring several guitars to my band practice 1x or 2x a week and they were heavy enough to create the grounding.)You can use an inexpensive test light w/a pointed tip to see if you are getting any power at the brown lead in a couple places: one is at the multi-connection behind the driver's kick panel, and another would be the connection inside the trunk, just on top of the left rear wheelwell. There's also an insulated connection attached to the rear bumper behind the license plate, where the brown wire connects to the wire that goes to the tank. One note of caution: If you take off the sill plates, pull the wire loom out of the channel and work your way down by unwrapping a section of the harness tape and piercing the brown wire with the tester, make sure you re-wrap the brown wire before you retape that part of the harness. You can create more potential areas for a future problem. Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest redcrow Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Thanks for both of your inputs. The weather has been really cold and rainy here but as soon as the weather breaks I'll pull it out of the garage and get the floor jack out and take a peek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Schramm Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 If the gage is full, then there is probably an open in the gage circuit. My first check would be the ground to be sure it is clean and good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rsd9699 Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 On your wiper motor - the switch is okay. In the cover that the wires go to there is a large gear with a riser on it to park the wipers. The riser likely has worn a hole through the park switch. As I recall it is rather soft brass. I soldered a piece of tin can on mine to solve the not shutting off problem. Can be done on the car with needle nose and soldering gun - clean and tin the parts - use the needle nose to hold the little tin strip (1/4 by 3/8 inch) in place and hit with the soldering gun. Maybe 1 hour job - pulling the cover, soldering, putting cover back on.Disconnect the battery if you do it on the car.Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61polara Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I had the same wiper problem on my '60 Invicta. The grease in the wiper motor drive gear was rock hard and keeping the park lever from moving into place. Pull the motor, take the cover off the gear drive, remove the old grease and relube. You should be in great shape then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cecsquare Posted November 9, 2014 Share Posted November 9, 2014 "There's also an insulated connection attached to the rear bumper behind the license plate, where the brown wire connects to the wire that goes to the tank."Thanks for the tip, Jan. I have a 1960 Buick LeSabre convertible and started experiencing gas gauge issues a few months ago. Specifically, it would read 1/4 of a tank and then full and the 1/3 of a tank, etc. I took your suggestion of locating the brown wire connector near the gas tank behind the bumper. My test light was showing juice going into the connector, but not coming out. I switched out the bad connector and now I'm back in business. Hope this helped anyone with a similar issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrEarl Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 Love seeing these old posts resurface and being of help. I am curious cesqure, how did you find it. through searching the forum or a google search? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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