69' super bee gas gauge repair

[Beekeeper]

I'm trying to repair the gas gauge in my bee and not having much luck. Here's what I've done so far.
Dropped the tank and removed the original sending unit
it was bad. Then grounded the sending unit wire and turned
on the key and the gauge gose to full but just to full and not past it then seems to start going back down very slowly so
with my old man in the car to watch the gauge and me under the car I have new sending unit in hand I ground it to the chassis and hook up the sender wire to check the accuracy
of the new one, turn on the key and get nothing I then move the float up the scale about half way and still nothing and then move it to full position and the gauge moves to empty
and that's as far as it went. I checked voltage at the battery
and have 12.3 volts and check voltage on the sender wire
and have 11.6 volts. And to verify I have a good ground
I ran a single #10 wire straight from the battery neg. to the
rear of the car and read the same 11.6 volts that seems too low
to me. I checked the new sending unit and it reads 78.8 ohms
At empty and 8.7 at full. Any ideas on what could be wrong?
Thanks Scott

 

[terzmo]

As I understand it, when grounding the original unit to see gauge deflection, you cannot do it for a long period of time. Once full deflection is seen, the time is up. You most likely took the gauge out now and that is why the new unit appears bad

 

[Beekeeper]

Gauge still goes to full when grounded to the chassis just don't work with the new
sending unit. The new unit seems to ohm out ok
really can't figure out why this thing won't work

 

[eric383]

I couldn't find anything for 1969 so here is a link to 1966 Mopar gauge trouble shooting. I don't know if there were any major changes done in 3 years.
http://www.mymopar.com/index.php?pid=253

 

[cdr]

sounds like a bad ,made in CHINCHEENA sender.

 

[Beekeeper]

sounds like a bad ,made in CHINCHEENA sender.

That could very well be the problem seems hard to find anything that isn't

 

[SwedCharger67]

Enough current?

Scott, you have probably solved it by now, but it sounds like you are doing the right things with ohming the sender at empty and full.
I would put a handheld ammeter in series with the circuit to the sender, to see how much current you have flowing in the circuit.
My guess is that for some reason the current is too low (or no current) to generate enough heat, or your tank is empty!!! :laughing7:

 

[flypaper]

the repop senders available today are cheap chinese junk
there was one that was good that was made in mexico
but it sold out long ago
there was talk of another run
but nothing has come of it yet.

 

[Beekeeper]

Hahaha yea my tank is empty and I still don't have it fixed. I pulled the cluster to
bench test it and found a bad oil pressure gauge. I hooked 12v to the cluster by
hooking positive to the 12volt pin on the circuit board and ground to the housing
then hooked the positive fuel gauge pin to the positive stud on the sender and then
grounded the sender to check the circuit. In the empty pos. the gauge didn't move
in the full position it goes to full and half way between it read empty. Also the sending unit resistor was smoking a little(not a cigar) in the full position. So I don't
think the Chinese know how to make a sending unit very well

 

[kiwigtx]

......... So I don't think the Chinese know how to make a sending unit very well

The Chinese CAN make stuff very well, they just choose to supply junk to people who don't pay for the quality (ie Walmart and the like). Dealing with the Chinese factories can be difficult, and the less you pay, the worse the quality. If you think you got a bargain with them, they will screw you on quality of goods supplied. The worst part is there is no come-back with them once your money is in their hands.

Sounds to me like your sender unit is bad. It might pay also to check the positive supply to your gauges - the Fuel & Temp gauges get a 'chopped wave' 5 volt feed from the voltage regulator on the back of the cluster. ;)