Hi Everyone, I have been troubleshooting a faulty fuel gauge in my 1968 Country Squire and have discovered that the fuel sender is faulty. In searching the forums, I also see that these senders were made for the wagon only and are quite difficult to find nowadays. I wanted to see if anyone has had any experience in repairing/rebuilding a fuel sender (considering they are so hard to find). I would assume the electronics would be the same as a standard Galaxie sender. Any input/leads on replacement senders or repair methods would be appreciated. D
There shouldn't even be electronics in something that old. It's a simple gadget consisting of copper windings, similar to how an electric motor is wound. The insulating clearcoat covering the copper thread isn't likely damaged, since there is no frictional contact between that and its surroundings. I'd inspect the electrical contacts which might be corroded or look for a punctured float.
Usually it's a bad float, pin holes, fuel inside it, maybe rusted holes in the pick up tube. Even rust scale preventing it from moving up and down. Very possibly the sock filter at the end is plugged. I've cleaned and rebuilt them but was eventually lucky to find a new one.
What's it doing? I'd go with ivy and clean the contact that moves up and down with the float. The senders are fairly simple gadgets. On my cp the fuel gauge was all over the place when I first got it. After running a few full tanks of gas it straightened itself out. My guess is the gas was old and maybe the contacts on the sender got a little residue that eventually affected the reading. I love the rare occasion when the car fixes itself.
Thanks for the advice everyone Ivy was correct, pulled the (very, very) rusty sender and found the float was not floating and the sock filter not attached. Have parts in order! Cheers D
My '56 Chevy had a tank drain plug, so that you could rid of condensation. If you didn't get into the habit of draining it regularly, the tank would rust anyway. It was always important to fill the tank to the brim. I never saw drainplugs on 60's and up cars. Maybe, auto manufacturers knew that very few people practiced such routine maintenance, anyway. The sealed systems, starting emmission control times made draining obsolete.
A '55 Chevy wagon is a real pain to remove the sender or tank. It's built around the differential so the suspension has to be all but removed. I've had a lot of '55 Chevys and the wagon sender was hardest to buy new. Then getting the float to float in the right position is another pain. I never let the fuel gauge get below 1/4th just in case. Sadly now laws make salvage yards punch holes in fuel tanks.