Common reason for Feul gauge problems

[BigSwede]

My feul guage seems to work whenever it wants. What is the most common problem that plagues the EB? Could it be the sender? Bad ground? Bad guage? Thanks for the help.

Frank

 

[murdock]

Mine does that. If I wiggle the switch it will usually start working again.

Make sure it is wired up right too! The PO had the wires switched around on the back of my tank switch.

 

[Gummi Bear]

The tank switch could be pooping out, the wire could be abraded somewhere in it's loom (along the drivers frame rail), the sending unit could be screwy (cracked float with a little bit of gas in it or something)or the voltage regulator for the instrument cluster could be on it's way out.

That's pretty much all it could be.

 

[BigSwede]

The tank switch could be pooping out, the wire could be abraded somewhere in it's loom (along the drivers frame rail), the sending unit could be screwy (cracked float with a little bit of gas in it or something)or the voltage regulator for the instrument cluster could be on it's way out.

That's pretty much all it could be.

I only have one tank, so the switch issue shouldnt be it. Will check the wiring. Where exactly is the voltage regulator? Is that it on the inside of the passenger side fender? It was disconnected, but when I ran out of gas (haha) and was troubleshooting other items, I plugged it back in. Guage worked for about 3 hours, then was dead again.

Thanks!

 

[SteveR77]

It probably is a combination of 30+ year old wires & sending unit. You may need a new sending unit and check every inch of the wires back there. Good luck!!! Steve

 

[RT]

Mine read way full,,,,a few minutes later it read empty..

Heres what I found when I looked under the Bronco:

The snow pulled the wire off a little , I guess the salt water shorted the wire to the frame ,,then when I hit a big enough bump it pulled the snow off the frame and hung by the wire..

Got snow there Frank ??

 

[Skuzzlebutt]

When mine was intermitent it was due to rusty connections at the tank.

 

[FerrumCampitor]

The snow pulled the wire off a little

Yeah that happened to me last night down here in Waller. NOT! (we get about 1 inch of snow every 5 years here in the Houston, TX area)

That's funny to me. Until I saw this post, I never ever even considered that snow could cause an issue like that. Guess I have some rewiring to do before I go back to Colorado! Thanks for opening my eyes to that issue.

 

[Gummi Bear]

I only have one tank, so the switch issue shouldnt be it. Will check the wiring. Where exactly is the voltage regulator? Is that it on the inside of the passenger side fender? It was disconnected, but when I ran out of gas (haha) and was troubleshooting other items, I plugged it back in. Guage worked for about 3 hours, then was dead again.

Thanks!

The voltage regulator for the instrument cluster is small, maybe the size of a piece of Hubba Bubba chewing gum (remember that?) It's behind the cluster, off to the side behind the dash. (~$10, IIRC)

A new vehicle voltage regulator is cheap too, and picking up a spare is never a terrible idea. (~$20-25, IIRC)


Most likely though, it's a cruddy connection somewhere. Go through and clean them up, apply a little di-electric grease, and tighten them up.

 

[BigSwede]

Mine read way full,,,,a few minutes later it read empty..

Heres what I found when I looked under the Bronco:

The snow pulled the wire off a little , I guess the salt water shorted the wire to the frame ,,then when I hit a big enough bump it pulled the snow off the frame and hung by the wire..

Got snow there Frank ??

No snow yet

Will check the connections though!

 

[BigSwede]

The voltage regulator for the instrument cluster is small, maybe the size of a piece of Hubba Bubba chewing gum (remember that?) It's behind the cluster, off to the side behind the dash. (~$10, IIRC)

A new vehicle voltage regulator is cheap too, and picking up a spare is never a terrible idea. (~$20-25, IIRC)


Most likely though, it's a cruddy connection somewhere. Go through and clean them up, apply a little di-electric grease, and tighten them up.

Ok, so what was the box on the passenger side just above the wheel well? It was unhooked, but nothing changed when I hooked it back up.

Will check all the connections before I replace any parts.

 

[DirtDonk]

The voltage regulator for the instrument cluster is small, maybe the size of a piece of Hubba Bubba chewing gum (remember that?) It's behind the cluster, off to the side behind the dash. (~$10, IIRC)
Most likely though, it's a cruddy connection somewhere.

Hah! Like me, you must've bought yours a long time ago. I just paid $49 bucks for one! I've seen them lately for anywhere from $40 to $65 or so. So they've gone up in more recent times.
I think I paid about $15 for my last one right from Ford.

And on the connections thing, there is an additional connector inline with the gauge just under the corner of the cluster. Seems to me it's on an orange wire, but I could be wrong about that. It's a funny looking 90° rubber connector that Ford probably put in because some Broncos had the selector switch and others did not.
It rarely is the culprit, but I mention it since you're going down the list of things to check out.

Paul

 

[DirtDonk]

Ok, so what was the box on the passenger side just above the wheel well? It was unhooked, but nothing changed when I hooked it back up.

Will check all the connections before I replace any parts.

That's your alternator's voltage regulator. What type of alternator are you running? If it's an original 1G type, then it shouldn't have been charging with it disconnected. When you plugged the 4-prong plug back in, it should have started charging.

The other VR that is being discussed is the instrument cluster voltage regulator. It's also termed a "constant voltage supply" which is a strange name, since it actually pulses a lower voltage to the fuel, oil press and water temp gauges only.

Paul

 

[BigSwede]

I have no idea what alternator I have. I will have to take pics of it all and get some opinions.