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1972 442 Convertible 455 auto with factory rally pack if that makes a difference here.The fuel gauge, OIL light, GEN light, TEMP light, BRAKE light, and lighter are not working. Dash lights work, I read in another thread that they all are fed by the same pin on the gauge pod connector. I have no idea what pin this, or what the gauge pod connector is, nor how to find it. I would assume that is where the issue is at. Can someone tell me where I need to look for this pin, a photo would really help :-) All fuses are good.
If you have a "factory rally pack" you wouldn't have idiot lights. Which is it? FYI, the wires are in different locations in the connector for idiot lights and rally pack. Also, did this just start or has it always been that way?
Sorry, there are 2 idiot lights between the oil pressure and the engine temperature gauge, both not working. I guess I added to many idiot lights there, LOL. The issue started after the engine and transmission were pulled. Engine was detailed and transmission was rebuilt, and everything put back together.
Those are the BRAKE and GEN lights. They (along with everything else in the gauge pod) are fed by the pink wire that is powered from the GAUGES/TRANS fuse. Start there and use a test light to trace power with the key in the RUN position.
Was able to get into the wiring today. Tested fuses again, all good. Removed the oil pressure, water temp, fuel level gauge. Checked the wiring back there, only 2 wires have power going to them while the car is off and the key is on. A pink wire and a gray wire... Nothing else has power. If you put the parking brake on, the BRAKE light does come on, and playing with the ignition switch I figured out that if I try to go to the ACC position the GEN light turns on. Now, I also just figured out that I can not go to the ACC position, it will not let you go there, it seems like you get halfway there and then you can not go anymore, but that is enough for the GEN light to come on. So GEN and BRAKE lights do work, but they do not come on when you put the key on and start the car. Fuel level gauge is still pegged all the way to full... Ground wire is connected to the body in front of the gas tank... Fuel level gauge wiring is connected in the trunk. Lighter still not working. Gray wire with 12V Pink wire with 12V Back of gauge Gauge Closeup back of gauge
The Gen light is working correctly, there is no lamp test for the brake light. It only lights if you engage the parking brake or have a pressure failure. You should not have power on the gray wire, it is for panel lights and should only have power if the park/head lights are on. The lighter is powered off the courtesy/clk/ lighter fuse and should have power at all times. If there is power to the socket, then you probably have a bad lighter element. Most of us disconnect the lighter wire because they have a tendency to stick, overheat, and melt the dash. The fuel gauge is pegged because there is an open circuit between the gauge and the sender. To isolate the issue, disconnect the wire to the sender and touch it to ground with the key switch on. The gauge should go to E. If it does, 99% chance your sender is no good and needs replaced. If it does not go to E, then its an open wire to the gauge.
There is no power at the lighter, I put my radar detector there and nothing happens. Any idea how hard it is to get to the back of the lighter socket? I am starting to think that the issue with the fuel gauge may be the sender. Car was not run for a couple of years, and after it came out of hibernation it was not working. Curious thing is that it is pegged past the full mark which some have said it means that there is either no ground or a short on the wiring...
The lighter has a push on wire connector on the back. Does the clock and courtesy lights work? Again your fuel gauge issue is not a short, its an open connection or missing ground. A short pegs the gauge at E.
Had some time to work today on the car. If I ground the fuel pressure gauge cable on the car it goes to E, so I guess the gauge itself is fine. I removed the ground wire from where it sits in front of the gas tank. Cleaned all connections sanded down the cars body where the ground goes to make sure I had a good ground. Sanded down the screw and the connector, put everything back together and I am still pegged past the F. So I guess that the sender is bad...
Being that this is almost a 50 year old gas tank I was thinking that I should just replace it, If it is going to have to come down I might as well put a new one in there and a new sender...
The fuel gauge wire has a bullet connector where it connects to the stud on the sending unit. On my 1970 Supreme I discovered the bullet connector was loose, so I crimped it with pliers and cured the "way past Full" issue.
This was back in around 1982 and I dropped the tank, not knowing what the issue was. From what I recall, you would not be able to reach the sending unit stud without dropping the tank.
I had discovered that grabbing the sending unit wire behind the license plate and wiggling it caused the gauge to read correctly for a while. This could be a check to see if the issue you are experiencing is the loose bullet connector.
Update, hopefully this will help someone in the future to get the fuel gauge diagnosed and fixed, my fuel gauge was stuck past the F (full) mark. The fuel gauge has a connection on the trunk with a plug that connects to the wire that goes to the fuel level sender. On my Cutlass convertible it is a brown wire that is on the about 4-5 inches from the middle of the trunk on drivers side of the trunk, it goes through a rubber grommet to the underside of the car. It is easy to find as if you go under the car you can see the one wire that goes to the middle of the fuel tank, you can just pull on it and you will see exactly what wire it is in the trunk. Unplug it at the trunk and ground it, if the fuel level gauge goes from past full to completely empty, then you know that your gauge and the wiring inside the car is good. When grounded mine went to completely empty so gauge and wiring to the gauge from the trunk was good. At this point in time there are still 3 possible issues. 1- the ground from the fuel gauge being broken, disconnected or not having good ground, 2- the wire that goes from the trunk to the sender unplugged or loose from the sender, or 3- the sender itself. The ground is a black wire that comes out of the front of the fuel tank and is just screwed onto the drivers side of the body on top of the fuel tank. I removed the ground, and pulled on it and it was not loose from the sender, so I then proceeded to clean the ground connections with sandpaper to make sure the connection was good. After all that nothing changed. I then pulled on the sender wire that comes from the trunk and goes to the sender and the connection was positive and did not seem loose at all. I also pulled on it while having someone look at the gauge and no difference. At this point in time there was nothing left but the sender. So I bought a fuel tank and sender and changed everything and now the gauge is working. I bought a new tank as this one was close to 50 years old and I could smell gasoline in the back of the car. Seemed to me that the tank maybe had a pin hole somewhere or something like that. After pulling the tanks I found out that the filler neck where it goes into the tank was loose and there was fuel and fumes coming out of there.
May 12th, 2019, 02:04 PM
