Mark D Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 "drove it" - wow congrats! Last week I bought one of these stainless sender units off ebay for my Chrysler, that has one wire, $60. It looks really good, but it has a couple of problems. It goes from zero ohms to about 40. Supposed to be 10 to 90. And when I put it in a full tank, it read around 5/8. As I drove it the next few days, the guage went up. I bent the arm the other way and now the guage moves the right way as I burn the gas out of the tank, but I'm guessing it'll run out when the guage says 5/8. I took the cap off the inside of the sender and instead of the cone of windings it's a flat winding plate. Less wiring makes less resistance. Now I need to find a way that will multiply the ohm reading by 2.25. There's got to be some way to do that. Any electrical engineers out there? Could I just put a resistor in line? or parallel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TodFitch Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Last week I bought one of these stainless sender units off ebay for my Chrysler, that has one wire, $60. It looks really good, but it has a couple of problems. It goes from zero ohms to about 40. Supposed to be 10 to 90. And when I put it in a full tank, it read around 5/8. As I drove it the next few days, the guage went up. I bent the arm the other way and now the guage moves the right way as I burn the gas out of the tank, but I'm guessing it'll run out when the guage says 5/8. I took the cap off the inside of the sender and instead of the cone of windings it's a flat winding plate. Less wiring makes less resistance. Now I need to find a way that will multiply the ohm reading by 2.25. There's got to be some way to do that. Any electrical engineers out there? Could I just put a resistor in line? or parallel? Not an electrical engineer, but you can't extend the range by adding resistors either in series or in parallel. You could add a 10 ohm resistor in line to offset the output (change it from 0-40 to 10-50). You say it has a "flat winding plate" so I assume it uses the old style resistance wire. Other than rewiring it, I don't know what your option is. The newer universal senders seem to use a thick film screened "resistor card" which have an advantage that you can take a Dremel tool and remove resistive material to raise the resistance. By selecting where on the card you remove resistance you have the posibility of customizing the fuel level response curve. I took advantage of that to come up with a sender for my 1933 which uses a range of values no longer available: http://www.ply33.com/Repair/fuelsender2.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldDad67 Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 I guess I'll answer my own question. I just recieved my new sender in the mail today. It appears to be of very good quality and certainly better than paying the $200.00 e-bay price for an old original. I'll test it before installation and try and keep everyone up to date on the results. So today I hooked up my new stainless steel sending unit I purchased off e-bay and checked out 2 gas gauges I had and everything worked great. So if you need a new sending unit you don't have to pay 200+ dollars to get one. This is kinda fun answering my own questions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobT-47P15 Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Re my earlier post mentioning Tomsclassic on ebay..........i found this info on another forum when a poster was asking about Toms.............so might try to see if it's indeed the right guy........... Tom is one of the owners of Auto City Classic 800-828-2212 Link to Auto City site........http://www.autocityclassic.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=883&Itemid=64 May or may not be helpful, but perhaps worth a call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldDad67 Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 Re my earlier post mentioning Tomsclassic on ebay..........i found this info on another forum when a poster was asking about Toms.............so might try to see if it's indeed the right guy........... Tom is one of the owners of Auto City Classic 800-828-2212 Link to Auto City site........http://www.autocityclassic.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=883&Itemid=64 May or may not be helpful, but perhaps worth a call. BobT-47P15 I did buy it from Tom's Classics, seems like a very well made piece. I just hate the price gougers on e-bay that are asking 2 to 300 bucks for stuff. I guess it's my choice wheather I buy it or not, guess I'm just a cheap old fart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Horne Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 Last week I bought one of these stainless sender units off ebay for my Chrysler, that has one wire, $60. It looks really good, but it has a couple of problems. It goes from zero ohms to about 40. Supposed to be 10 to 90. And when I put it in a full tank, it read around 5/8. As I drove it the next few days, the guage went up. I bent the arm the other way and now the guage moves the right way as I burn the gas out of the tank, but I'm guessing it'll run out when the guage says 5/8. I took the cap off the inside of the sender and instead of the cone of windings it's a flat winding plate. Less wiring makes less resistance. Now I need to find a way that will multiply the ohm reading by 2.25. There's got to be some way to do that. Any electrical engineers out there? Could I just put a resistor in line? or parallel? You may have good luck with a voltage reducer. I am using a Ford fuel gauge, with my 38 Coupe's face on it, a Datson sender unit, and a voltage reducer to 6 volt. Has been fairly accurate.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldDad67 Posted February 3, 2013 Report Share Posted February 3, 2013 You may have good luck with a voltage reducer. I am using a Ford fuel gauge, with my 38 Coupe's face on it, a Datson sender unit, and a voltage reducer to 6 volt. Has been fairly accurate.... Thanks for the info Robert, I'm going to use a "Runtz" on my fuel gauge since the system will be 12 volts. I have have very good luck with the "Runtz" on my 52 Chevy hardtop fuel gauge. I tested my new sending unit with a 6 volts source. What year F--d fuel gauge did you use? I assume 12 volt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Horne Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 I believe the Ford fuel gauge I used was from the 1995 Ranger I junked..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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