Fuel Sender Quit Working

[huntnCJfool]

I dropped my fuel tank today to change all my hoses and clamps and clean the area. I cleaned the tank and got all the hoses swapped out without major issue. When I got everything put back together my fuel gauge no longer worked. I hooked the ground wire and the wire to the sending unit back up.... Does anyone have any ideas of what could have gone wrong here before I go to fool with it anymore?

 

[yleefox]

Since you didn't do anything other than what you mentioned, I would be looking at those wires (esp the ground) closely.

 

[huntnCJfool]

Since you didn't do anything other than what you mentioned, I would be looking at those wires (esp the ground) closely.

Thanks, I think you are probably onto something with the ground wire. I was not even considering that I broke the ground from the frame to the skid plate when I took it down.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[oldjeeplady]

For what it's worth...If you powered the sending unit with a bad ground it is probably toast. Also suggest you run a dedicated ground from the battery/engine block back to the sending unit. Also can use for lights. Using the frame, body, etc. can lead to a high resistance ground. Those sending units are very picky. You can test it by connecting an ohm meter to just the sending unit wire and a good ground with nothing else connected. I believe the range is 10 to 70 ohms. Good luck.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

LG

 

[j6824]

An access cover over top of it cut into the bottom of the tub comes in really handy

 

[JeeperChris]

An access cover over top of it cut into the bottom of the tub comes in really handy

I've looked and found that small boat hatches would work great. Ebay is a good place to look to get an idea for those cover/hatches. Most will come with a surround that screws to the floor and a hinged and latched door, sometimes with a lock.

 

[huntnCJfool]

Thanks for the responses folks, upon doing some testing and dropping the tank again, it appears I somehow burned up my gauge. The sender is reading accurate resistance for the fuel level and when I ground the sender wire the gauge does nothing.

Bummer...that is the second original SW gauge I have had go bad on me since the beginning of summer and the new stuff is ...I ordered a SW gauge on ebay that said it was tested so hopefully it works. Had to go with autometer for oil pressure and it looks terrible.

can anyone tell give me a reason why disconnecting the sender in the first place would have burned up my gauge?? The sender wire was cut for many years and as soon as I hooked it back up the gauge worked fine.

I have a dedicated ground from battery to the dash and I now have a jumper from the sender ground on the skid plate that I can ground to the frame.