I thought I would post up what I learned and what I did to get my gas gauge working right. I put the Roadrunner together with a new tank, sender, voltage limiter, and refurbished wiring harness. It all tested good on the bench. The tank and sender came from Jegs, the tank P/N 78094 and sender P/N 78896.
The gauge had never worked right in 4000 miles of driving. It would never read full, would go to somewhere over half at fillup and was just plain unreliable. I took the sender out, hooked it up on the floor of the trunk, and it seemed to work but slowly. It would not duplicate the problems in the shop. Why why WHY!
Will try to keep this short, after two days of screwing around with it, I have it working now.
The big smoking guns were-
The sender float was hitting the top of the tank. I put it inside the loose tank I have for the Charger, the filler hole is on the side so the float is easy to see. Bent the arm so the float travel was right.
Voltage limiter- forget where it came from, probably Rock Auto. I tested it along side a working OEM unit, the 58 year old one I took out of my Charger dash. The OEM pulsed continuously between 2 and 5 volts, which is correct I believe. The new aftermarket one however read zero most of the time with an occasional 2-5 heartbeat.
Yes I know a good solid state unit is available which is what I should have bought. My inner cheap bastard chose the crappy one. Dont listen to your inner cheap bastard here.
I tested all the wiring, it was good but I fixed a few things anyway, as driving conditions can change this. I added a ground wire from the tank to the body, took the spade connector out of the connector at the kick panel, pinched it closed for a tight connection and greased it. The voltage limiter fit felt a little loose too, so I rotated the tabs slightly so they had a tight interference fit into the circuit board.
I put the 58 year old OEM voltage limiter in and tossed the "new" one.
The gauge now showed just under a quarter, which was right. I replaced the two cans of gas I had siphoned out, and it continued to read right as I poured them back in.
Went for a drive and fueled up. Gauge says full for the first time. I can die happy now.
I think the aftermarket senders get a bad rap, as there are so many other things that can go wrong. Just a few ohms of resistance too high or low here and there, and the whole thing goes into the dumper. And for sure, dont ever buy a chineseum voltage limiter. If you have an aftermarket sender, ensure the arm travel is right.
The gauge had never worked right in 4000 miles of driving. It would never read full, would go to somewhere over half at fillup and was just plain unreliable. I took the sender out, hooked it up on the floor of the trunk, and it seemed to work but slowly. It would not duplicate the problems in the shop. Why why WHY!
Will try to keep this short, after two days of screwing around with it, I have it working now.
The big smoking guns were-
The sender float was hitting the top of the tank. I put it inside the loose tank I have for the Charger, the filler hole is on the side so the float is easy to see. Bent the arm so the float travel was right.
Voltage limiter- forget where it came from, probably Rock Auto. I tested it along side a working OEM unit, the 58 year old one I took out of my Charger dash. The OEM pulsed continuously between 2 and 5 volts, which is correct I believe. The new aftermarket one however read zero most of the time with an occasional 2-5 heartbeat.
Yes I know a good solid state unit is available which is what I should have bought. My inner cheap bastard chose the crappy one. Dont listen to your inner cheap bastard here.
I tested all the wiring, it was good but I fixed a few things anyway, as driving conditions can change this. I added a ground wire from the tank to the body, took the spade connector out of the connector at the kick panel, pinched it closed for a tight connection and greased it. The voltage limiter fit felt a little loose too, so I rotated the tabs slightly so they had a tight interference fit into the circuit board.
I put the 58 year old OEM voltage limiter in and tossed the "new" one.
The gauge now showed just under a quarter, which was right. I replaced the two cans of gas I had siphoned out, and it continued to read right as I poured them back in.
Went for a drive and fueled up. Gauge says full for the first time. I can die happy now.
I think the aftermarket senders get a bad rap, as there are so many other things that can go wrong. Just a few ohms of resistance too high or low here and there, and the whole thing goes into the dumper. And for sure, dont ever buy a chineseum voltage limiter. If you have an aftermarket sender, ensure the arm travel is right.
