John:
Sounds like your temperature gauge has a partial short.
It does not matter which way the wires are hooked up to the temp
and fuel gauge. They are thermal indicators, which means that the
needles move in response to the temperature of an internal heating
element. The heating element gets hot no matter which way the current
flows. This method is used so that the response of the meters is damped;
they ignore peaks and valleys and only respond to an average value. This
is done so that the fuel gauge doesn't bounce around when the fuel
sloshes during cornering and braking.
Shorting the temp sender wire to ground should peg the temp
gauge. The fact that it doesn't peg, and the fact that the fuel gauge
only works when the temp circuit is open argue that the temp gauge is
partially shorted so that only part of the heating element is working.
Not enough heat to get to full scale.
The fuel gauge quits when the temp sender is hooked up because
the current draw on the temp side of the circuit is so high that there
is nothing left to power the fuel gauge. All the current goes to ground
through the temp gauge.
I would leave the temp gauge disconnected until you get it
fixed; otherwise you could overload and damage the voltage stabilizer.
Cheers,
Vance
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of John Johnson
Sent: July 27, 2006 4:14 PM
To: 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: Tempeture Gauge Trouble HELP!
Hi List, The other day my temp gauge and fuel gauge stopped working, so
I
replaced the voltage stabilizer. They still do not work, with the
ignition
on I get 9.6 volts at the temp sending unit and 10.2 at the gauge from
the
voltage stabilizer. When I unhook the temp sending unit wire my fuel
gauge
works again. When I ground out the temp gauge sending unit the temp
gauge
goes to the 1/4 mark only. I have good voltage in the sending unit wire.
I
could not tell which way the wires hooked up on the back of the temp
gauge,
did'n't matter either way.Is my gauge bad, is the sending unit bad?
Thanks,
John
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