Gauges

[highshine7]

Greetings everyone. I posted several days ago that I was struggling to get my gauges to work. Here is what I have done.

Check and replaced the fuse that said "gauges and Trans"

Taken the Dash apart and cleaned the screws and the base plate with a wire brush

Taken a piece of wire and run it from the bolt on the alternator to the dash plate then to the screws holding on the gauges assembly. Then I tried
going to the negative terminal on the battery.

I turned on the ignition and still had no results other than the gauges immediately move to the "Full" "Cold" "High" positions and stay pinned there.

Am I not grounding it enough? Is there another option for checking? It seems that since all three of those gauges on the assembly are acting similar
it isn't the gauge itself but rather something else. Any advice?

Michael

 

[Rdenney]

Check the grounding strap between the chassis and the engine block. The
instruments ground at the block, and the gauge is looking at current. And
residual ground-loop current through the instrument wiring will upset the
gauges.

Rick “guessing at this point, except that most problems are grounding”
Denney

On Thu, Nov 22, 2018 at 10:19 AM Michael Stevens
wrote:

> Greetings everyone. I posted several days ago that I was struggling to get
> my gauges to work. Here is what I have done.
>
> Check and replaced the fuse that said "gauges and Trans"
>
> Taken the Dash apart and cleaned the screws and the base plate with a wire
> brush
>
> Taken a piece of wire and run it from the bolt on the alternator to the
> dash plate then to the screws holding on the gauges assembly. Then I tried
> going to the negative terminal on the battery.
>
> I turned on the ignition and still had no results other than the gauges
> immediately move to the "Full" "Cold" "High" positions and stay pinned
> there.
>
>
> Am I not grounding it enough? Is there another option for checking? It
> seems that since all three of those gauges on the assembly are acting
> similar
> it isn't the gauge itself but rather something else. Any advice?
>
> Michael
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org
>
--
Rick Denney
73 x-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Off-list email to rick at rickdenney dot com

 

[emerystora]

Do not run the ground to the negative terminal of the battery. When you start if your battery terminal connection that goes to the engine block is loose you could get so many amps through the ground wire that you could burn up the wire.

You are probably looking at the wrong side of the gauge. Rather than looking at the ground of the gauge case you should check the wires leading from the gauge sender to the gauge. Each gauge has two terminals. The gauge works by grounding through the sender. If there is maximum resistance such as an open wire the gauge will go to high. If there is a shorted wire it will go to zero.
Check the back of the board where the gauges are mounted and look for an open wire.

Emery Stora
77 Kingsley
Frederick, CO

>
> Greetings everyone. I posted several days ago that I was struggling to get my gauges to work. Here is what I have done.
>
> Check and replaced the fuse that said "gauges and Trans"
>
> Taken the Dash apart and cleaned the screws and the base plate with a wire brush
>
> Taken a piece of wire and run it from the bolt on the alternator to the dash plate then to the screws holding on the gauges assembly. Then I tried
> going to the negative terminal on the battery.
>
> I turned on the ignition and still had no results other than the gauges immediately move to the "Full" "Cold" "High" positions and stay pinned there.
>
>
> Am I not grounding it enough? Is there another option for checking? It seems that since all three of those gauges on the assembly are acting similar
> it isn't the gauge itself but rather something else. Any advice?
>
> Michael
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org

 

[Bob Dunahugh]

The dash gauges really don't tell you a lot. It's not real hot. And that there is oil pressure. Buy a Digia Panel from Jim K at Applied. DONE. The big deal with the DP is the alarm that goes off if there is a problem. I see it this way. You can look at the road ahead for safety. Not a gauge. Bob Dunahugh

 

[highshine7]

Where is that grounding strap?

 

[charles boyd]

There are 2 grounding straps. One on the RF body mount and one on the RR transmission mount. Is your dash and gauges OEM or aftermarket? It is
unusual for all the gauges to be off unless they have been replaced with aftermarket.

> Where is that grounding strap?

--
C. Boyd
76 Crestmont
East Tennessee

 

[johnny]

Part of the upcoming engine replacement in my coach will be installing my DigiPanel.

--johnny
--
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
"I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell" - ol Andy, paraphrased

 

[highshine7]

As far as I know they are OEM. They sure look like the original ones.

Some secondary aftermarket gauges were added down low. AS far as I can tell they aren't independent of the main gauges. They have water temp, oil
pressure, RPM and vacuum. The main gauges are the ones I need working....specifically the fuel tank levels and the temperature (The aux temp gauge
isn't working well either).

 

[charles boyd]

The water temp OEM sending unit is suppose to be in the LF of the intake manifold in a water jacket with one wire going to it. Grounding this wire
should make a difference in the gauge reading with key on. If the aftermarket water temp gauge is manual the sender may have been moved cause the
cable to manual gauge is to short to go anywhere else. Most I have seen are moved to RF of intake where the vacuum tree is suppose to be or in the
rear of intake in water jacket. The OEM oil pressure sending unit is about 3" in front of the water temp sending unit coming up out of block behind
timing cover. Again grounding this single wire should change the gauge reading. Both of these wires run in a covered harness that runs around
alternator to dash and could be compromised inside the covered harness.

If the aftermarket gauges are electrical instead of manual they should have their own separate sending units and not piggybacked off one sending unit.
Chase the wires and see what is going where.

> As far as I know they are OEM. They sure look like the original ones.
>
> Some secondary aftermarket gauges were added down low. AS far as I can tell they aren't independent of the main gauges. They have water temp, oil
> pressure, RPM and vacuum. The main gauges are the ones I need working....specifically the fuel tank levels and the temperature (The aux temp gauge
> isn't working well either).

--
C. Boyd
76 Crestmont
East Tennessee

 

[john r. lebetski]

My experience with stuff like this if you put everything back to factory correct with clean connections it will work. I often suggest Caig D5 spray as
the best contact cleaner and always keep a can on board. Your alternator add on wire is really scarring me on many levels. I suggest disconnecting
the oil and water sender wires and turn key on. See guage response. Then ground each to engine and check gauge response. You can see if cluster
responds or if senders are bad.
--
John Lebetski
Woodstock, IL
77 Eleganza II