New Fuel Gauge issue for 1980
 

Hi All

Hoping someone else has had this issue and can help out...

So basically I ordered a new fuel gauge as the old one was bouncing around all over the place (no oil left in the dial I assumed), so anyway I got sent an Acdelco replacement part no. 6432532.

The thing I noticed was that it did not have the 90ohm resistor across the + and signal wire (like the old one did) anyway I fitted it and it read good, the problem is that now the battery and oil pressure gauge no longer worked plus when I put the dash lights on the lights worked OK until i put the ignition on, then 3 of the the lights would go out....

So I put back the old 90ohm resistor onto the new gauge and everything works great now, EXECPT now the fuel gauge reads full over which is the same as having no signal from the tank (i believe).

Can someone tell me if there is another part for the 1980 fuel gauge in case this is the wrong one?

see if this document from Willcox Corvette helps you

http://repairs.willcoxcorvette.com/w...it-testing.pdf

Haha yeah first thing I read, that's how I found out about the gauge swinging to the over full mark when there's no signal from the tank.

All reproduction gauges come with a paper that you can barely read... And all reproduction gauges have the resistance built inside the gauge and don't use the resistor.... But the reproduction gauges all come with a plastic spacer to take the place of the resistor.

I think you might have had an issue on your PCB causing your other issues that upon removal of the center dash cluster, you may have corrected it. It's common for the fingers where the PCB connector plugs in, to come loose from the board and touch another finger. When the boards were not available we'd just glue them back down but now we just replace them.

So.. if the gauge is a reproduction gauge then remove the resistor, your probably running 180 ohms across the two terminals... I've never tested a gauge with 180 ohms so I can't tell you how it will respond, but I feel pretty sure that's your issue.

Below are the instructions (in a readable size).

http://repairs.willcoxcorvette.com/w...structions.jpg

Thanks for this Wilcox, I did read you online paper for testing this gauge and found it helpful. I checked the fingers and am always careful when removing and connecting this plug to the PCB.

I basically checked everything including the voltages and the only way the oil and battery gauges will work is if the old 90ohm resistor is in place, could this mean that there is Not a 90ohm resistor internally, even though it does seem a common replacement part? If I tested across the replacement gauge should I be getting that 90ohm reading?