Fuel gauge pegged past FULL when I got my ‘68 442. Just put new sender in new tank and no change. Sender lead tested good from tank to connector behind license plate. Gauge went to EMPTY when I grounded tan wire at connector by fuse block, so I know gauge works. Wondering if I am missing a ground wire. Sender had one ground wire which I grounded to chassis above fuel tank. Is there supposed to be another ground somewhere? Only other thing I can think of is sender wire is open in between the connector at license plate and connector by fuse block.

 

Ground the wire that runs from the connector at the license plate, like you did with the one by the fuse block.

 

Gauge didn’t budge. Guess that means sensor is open between the two connectors. Am I ripping the entire interior out to run a new wire or do most folks run it around the side?

 

There is a ribbon cable that runs from the backseat forward. Follow the wire to the backseat and see if you can see something. If not run a wire down the side.

 

So...rewired the sender wire and still nothing. The wires coming out of the connecter by fuse block are knicked up so That’s where my attention went next. Tried grounding the tan wire at connector and got nothing. Finally got gauge to respond by pulling a bit on the wires at connector while grounding. Couldn’t isolate which wire so I chopped off the connector and rewired all 7 wires. After doing that still no response, unless I gently pull on the wires. After spending the last 3 hours upside down, I have a poor connection up by the gauge itself. Guess the next step is to pull the gauge and see what I can find.

 

Now that all wires have been individually spliced I can single out the tan sender wire as the issue. If I gently pull the wire the connection at the gauge works. Hard to tell by looking up under there where the sender wire connects to the gauge. Is it part of the ribbon wire that plugs in at the top of the gauge? Any suggestions on how to remedy the issue?

 

The ribbon harness only runs along the floor from front to rear. Your going to have to get to the gauge, there is a power wire, a sender wire, a ground for the circuit, and a chassis ground for the assy.

 

Replaced gauge with the spare I didn’t know I had and it works now. Original gauge must have a terminal going bad. What killed me was getting it to read “E” when I grounded tan wire under dash as I must have been pulling on wire just enough for it to work. All in all took 8 hours with most of it upside down. If I ever have to replace another gauge on this car I will set it on fire and claim the insurance money. Hopefully it’s good for another 50 years.

 

Been there...