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Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:40 pm

Does anyone know why my fuel gauge might not be working? Its a stock 70 speedometer, and my signals are still working (same fuse I think). I'm stumped (I'm new, doesn't take a lot.)

Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:42 pm

Do you mean the oil light?

Ground the wire from the send unit to case and see if the bulb is ok.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:47 pm

:shock: I meant gas guage... sorry

Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:02 pm

same plan of attack :P

You can take the wire off the send unit and ground it and watch the gauge.

If it goes to full your sending unit is bad.
Next thing to look at is on the back of the speedometer you have the zenor diode.Also called a "vibrator"
Under it is 2 brass nuts that sometimes come loose and cause the gauge needle to bounce around.
tighten them up and recheck
good luck!!!

Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:18 pm

You're out of gas! :wink:

In addition to above, check your connections (clean and tighten). Make sure nothing came unplugged if you were fiddling around. I once had the hot wire snap right at the terminal, but just hang on enough to make it look ok. It wasn't until I grabbed it that it separated.

Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:39 pm

I will have to try those. I don't know if this helps but when I got the car on friday the gauge wasn't working, put in a new fuse and it worked, and went out again yesterday

Mon Jan 23, 2012 10:56 pm

Okay,

So on the same circuit you have the emergency flasher and the horn.

That would be fuse #1 in the panel.

So,follow the wiring diagram in the technical section above
go into the wiring diagrams for 1970-1971.

Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:17 am

Remember, test lights are your friend!

Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:51 pm

Fuses go out because the circuit is overloaded, you could have a short somewhere. As suggested above make sure the wires that are supposed to be connected to the fuse box are in fact the only ones there, and nothing is shorting out. Find the reason that fuse is getting burned.

Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:55 pm

Lucatero wrote: Fuses go out because the circuit is overloaded, you could have a short somewhere. As suggested above make sure the wires that are supposed to be connected to the fuse box are in fact the only ones there, and nothing is shorting out. Find the reason that fuse is getting burned.

I don't think the fuses are going out, the signals still work -same fuse

Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:00 pm

old DKP driver wrote: same plan of attack :P

You can take the wire off the send unit and ground it and watch the gauge.

If it goes to full your sending unit is bad.
!
In my experience, this is incorrect. If you ground the main sender wire the fuel gauge is suppose to go to full ( as in least resistance). therfore meaning it is probably ok.
Check the wires on the tank sender to make sure nothing has knocked them loose. Then check the voltage vibrator as suggested. The voltage vibrator needs to get current from something. Make sure it is geting 12 volts

Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:32 pm

Sorry for my mistake as i should have said
Grounding the send wire and it goes to full means the send unit is GOOD
not Bad

Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:40 pm

the question should be ,....'does anyone's ACVW gas gauge ever really work correctly ? '

Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:54 pm

phmical wrote: the question should be ,....'does anyone's ACVW gas gauge ever really work correctly ? '

Im ok with not having a fuel gauge but I'm on the first fill with the car so 1, I would like to see how many miles I get to a tank and 2, I want to know when I'm nearput empty so I can put new fixtures in the bottom of the tank (possible source of leak.) Hoping to get the problem, amongst many others, fixed tomorrow.

Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:00 pm

Take the wire from the sending unit and ground it to a clean piece of bare metal on the car, and see if the fuel gauge works. If the gauge works, chances are you sending unit is not working.

Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:07 pm

Thanks for all the suggestions. Slightly off topic but while I'm at it I need to replace the fuel hoses that go from the cap to the tank. What kind/size of hose is that?

Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:24 pm

Copernicus wrote: Thanks for all the suggestions. Slightly off topic but while I'm at it I need to replace the fuel hoses that go from the cap to the tank. What kind/size of hose is that? You can order the parts you need here http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/wolfsburg_new/fuelsystem/index.cfm

Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:27 pm

Copernicus wrote: Thanks for all the suggestions. Slightly off topic but while I'm at it I need to replace the fuel hoses that go from the cap to the tank. What kind/size of hose is that? https://shop.westcoastmetric.com/viewProduct.php?productID=311-219A

Good source for quality parts. That hose is American-made. It's long enough to be cut in half to fit both sides of your metal filler tube.

Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:26 pm

Replaced a bunch of nasty looking wires today and grounded the wire. Went to full.. so I need a new sending unit right?

Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:31 pm

Most likely. My poat above is bad info. I meant if the gauge goes to full, you know the gauge is ok so the other link is the sender. The float may be water logged or off the metering rod. Take it out and have a look. Don't buy one until you check it out.