[Amc-list] speaking of electrical annoyances...

[Tom Jennings <tomj@xxxxxxx>]

My 63 Classic's gas gauge has been reading lower and lower. Used to be just 
over 3/4 when full, that dropped to 1/2. 

So like an idiot I extract the dash gauge cluster before checking the sender, 
which is a PITA on a hot day in the sun. (I was suspecting my dash regulator 
was putting out low voltage but I should have checked the sender first.)

Dash gauge was of course OK, but the pointer moved around as I wiggled the 
harness. Oh oh, hate that.

Long story short, the harness to PC board pin for the gas sender wasn't zero 
ohms, but around 2 ohms. This is pretty odd, but hey, stuff happens. Turns 
out the brass pin, made of rolled sheet brass and crimped on, simply 
developed increased resistance, presumably due to very slow corrosion. The 
brass had the usual patina, but was otherwise fine.

I took it inside, wirebrushed it (almost removed some PCboard traces!) and 
soldered every pin to the board. Now it's zero ohms, wire to gauge terminal!

This car is LP powered, and the real culprit turned out to be that the sender 
had rotated in its housing. On LP tanks the float inside drives a magnet, 
which in turn drives the sender through the tank wall. (At 300psi you don't 
want things piercing the tank). Next time I fill up I'll rotate it to 
read "F"!
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