1981 malibu gas gauge

frost1085

Amateur Racer
Feb 2, 2012
144
0
16
Fort Wayne, IN
hi, im trying to figure out y my gas gauge is not working it stays on empty no matter what. i bought a new sending unit, and also i switched cluster for another one, gas gauge and all. i also made sure wire was grounded properly at the rear of car and made sure pink wire was gettin power when key switched on and it did. i unplugged the ignition wire and it went to full, ground wire no change.

what do u guys think, thanks in advance

and since the gauge went to full when i unplugged the pink wire, wouldnt that cancel out the gauge being bad
 

Brown_Gbody

Top Fueler
Feb 17, 2010
3,078
0
36
Milwaukee, WI
Occasionally mine will peg over to the full side, regardless of how much fuel is in the tank. A good tap on the top of the gauge cluster, and it drops back to where it should be. This tells me either I have a cold solder joint on the circuit board, or it's a loose wire back there.
I haven't looked deep into it yet...
 

81classic

Top Fueler
Jun 5, 2003
2,833
0
0
North Port, Fl
maybe I'm thinking wrong, but I dont believe the pink wire should have power. You should have a 12v+ source, a ground and the pink wire for the sending unit. If it stays on empty that is a bad ground. I would check the ground at the rear of the car, make sure that is clean and tight. If it still does not work take a good known ground and jump it to the gauge, maybe there is a break in the wire.
Generally if the gauge reads empty, its a ground issue, if it always reads full its the sending wire issue
 

frost1085

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Feb 2, 2012
144
0
16
Fort Wayne, IN
81classic said:
maybe I'm thinking wrong, but I dont believe the pink wire should have power. You should have a 12v+ source, a ground and the pink wire for the sending unit. If it stays on empty that is a bad ground. I would check the ground at the rear of the car, make sure that is clean and tight. If it still does not work take a good known ground and jump it to the gauge, maybe there is a break in the wire.
Generally if the gauge reads empty, its a ground issue, if it always reads full its the sending wire issue


thanks for the help, going to try and jump the ground and see if that helps hopefully it does. but here is a pic of my tank and sender its a 2 wire one.
 

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frost1085

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Feb 2, 2012
144
0
16
Fort Wayne, IN
i ran a ground all the way from the battery still nothin, i do have another guage just in case but i dont think its the guage since it is moving.
 

frost1085

Amateur Racer
Thread starter
Feb 2, 2012
144
0
16
Fort Wayne, IN
ok i found my other gas guage and installed it, still not right look at the pix's does this mean that both guages are bad this is what the needle went 2 when i installed both. or could it till be somethin with the wiring, im pretty sure i have a good ground the sending unit is new the only thing that is not new is the guage and the positive wire on top of the tank lmk what u think im making this my daily driver for now and really need to figure the guage thin out thanks in agvance
 

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