[greensmurf20]

hello fellas. need some help from you Opel Pros. any hints at to what could be wrong with my GT and how to fix it? fuel guage does not work. changed the guage and still dont work. i know the blue wire with a black strip is not broken and the black wire and the black wire with a red stripe are not broken and hooked up correctly according to a part car. i had the gas tank out and the sending unit float came up and down freely(you could hear it) do i just have 2 junk guages or is the sending unist bad? can they be fixed or may it be something else? also my amp meter does not work. my warning light comes on if the car stops charging but the amp meter don't work. tried a spare guage and same thing happens................any ideas? also the clock dont work but i could care less. any help would be great. i already know how to fix the oil guage my wire is broken by the sending unit(horrable a car with one working guage!!!!!!!!!!)LOL

 

[greensmurf20]

any takers on this one?

 

[ben]

have you tried the other sending unit in the parts car for the gas gage the wiring in these cars is very weak so start looking for burned wiring and thats more than likly wear the problm is



good luck

 

[greensmurf20]

my gas tank was very rusty inside and i had to chagne it and the origional sending unit was full of rust so i already have the sending unit out of the part car in there. just check the wiring with a continuety tester*or how ever you spell it*? the black and blue wire i bypassed. i put 2 ends on it and went from the sending unit directly to the guage and it still only flinches when you turn the key on and thats it.

 

[ben]

a continuety tester*or how ever you spell it*? just tells you if the wire is good that all maybe buy a after market fuel gage and try it

 

[greensmurf20]

OUCH! i'm broke until i go back to work when schools out or whenever my bosses father and law gets the motor for his Tempo so i can change that motor.....again. *D*** fords* well i'll see if i can find a sending unit somewhere in my surplus of parts and if not then its a aftermarket set up i guess.

 

[ConreroGT]

corrosion

When I first got my 72 I had bad electrical problems. Turned out my ammeter (this is where all the juice from the battery goes first...then to the fuse box) was corroded to the point where I could tap the amp wires and everything would light up. I had to jump the terminals at the fuse box to bypass the amp gauge and get pwr to the car.

....so....check corrosion on the back of the amp gauge as well.

 

[greensmurf20]

looks like new.(i've only had the dash out quite a few times in the past month or two). i never had problems with not getting power to the fuse block. but i will be the first to admit the PO was not great at wiring. the amp meter light works when the car is not charging. just the guage does not work and neither does the spare guage i tried.

 

[kwilford]

Jared,

A quick search (hint hint) using "Sending + Gas"

http://opelgt.com/forums/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=9647&sortby=&sortorder=

resulted in five hits, with at least two of those dealing with EXACTLY the problem you are having. It is dead easy to test a sending unit. Just use an ohm meter and measure the resistance across the terminal to the ground. Look at the posts I mentioned, but I believe that an empty tank (float at the bottom, full wire resistance) is about 90 ohms, and a full tank is about 10 ohms (or a bit less).

Don't go and try to install an aftermarket unit, unless you are REALLY desperate. Sending units can usually be repaired, and gauges are readily available. Installing an aftermarket gauge and sender will be WAY harder than repairing what you have.

HTH

 

[greensmurf20]

thanks i searched and couldnt find nothing those are very helpfull. i have guages just not sending units so hopefull it can be fixed.

 

[greensmurf20]

well, since me and the girlfriend broke up i suddenly found alot more time to spend on the GT.*major plus*. tore the sending unit out of the tank, and took off the tin tube. the wire inside was all good so i just cleaned the corosion and rust off the inside of the thing and tested it once again......to my surprise it worked!!!!! went from 2.8 ohms to 90.2 ohms. sounds like it should work if i have a good guage now, because i know that all of my wiring is good. then i'll still need to work on that amp guage, since my warnin light works but the needle dont........hmm.

 

[greensmurf20]

if my warning light works, the wiring must be correct, right? this must mean that my needle is stuck, and i need to try and free it up or something of the sort maybe by taking the trim ring off and fiddeling around with a spare guage, and then swapping. sounds like a plan doesnt it?

 

[rallye73]

I just skimmed the other posts so I am not sure if this was covered....

1) make sure you have power at the gage. I simple test light will do this.

2) make sure the gage has a good ground. This has been a problem with most of the gages I have worked with. replace the wireand clean up the body where it connects. When in doubt run a wire directly to the negative terminal on the battery.

Darrin

 

[baz]

"When in doubt run a wire directly to the negative terminal on the battery."

BANG FIZZEL SMOKE FIRE PAIN

no disrespect to darrin but
never put a wire from the amp metre to -ve battery post without a resistance (even a test lamp ) or the battery will dump all its power down the line as its a short circut

 

[greensmurf20]

i didnt think the amp meter was supposed to be grounded.

 

[rallye73]

I should have been more specific. I was replying to the fuel gauge portion only. Sorry for the confusion, I'll chock it up to replying at 1:00 in the morning and lack of sleep. No offence taken.

 

[greensmurf20]

i think i have a bad ground for my fuel tank anyway. i got it working a few weeks ago but its very touchy. sometimes it works and sometimes it dont but going down the road helps it out alot. the more bumps you hit the better it works.....LOL

 

[ben]

hey did you get your gas gauge too work yet i took mine out clean it all up and still no good all wires are good and the tests ok any help
ps my oil gauge and tach are have some issues when i put continuity tester*or how ever you spell it*? it the tester the needle goes over ans stays at red line or on the oil gauge all the presser in the world
all the wires test fine cant get it can you help

 

[greensmurf20]

i sold the car i was having those problems with, i never got it completely right. it musta been something with the sending unit or the ground for the sending unit. when it quit working you'd have to smack the gas tank and it'd work again until you hit a dinky little bump.

if your oil pressure guage is maxing out then one of the two wires from the sending unit has a bad connection or is broken somewhere. somehow one of mine was broken and it maxed the guage until i fixed it..hth

 

[baronbors]

Had the same problem- one day the gas gauge was working, the next day no. Checked the gauge but the replacement did the same thing. 15 minutes of talking to Gil at OGTS and I sent my gas sending unit to them. Got it back - fast turnaround- and working great since then.