76 CJ Fuel Gauge Problem

luggw1

New member
I've got a 76 CJ-5 with a temperamental fuel gauge that I'm trying to trouble shoot. A while back it stopped reading and I localized it to the sending unit, so I dropped the tank and installed a new one - found the float on the old one was full of fuel. it worked for a couple of weeks, but now it almost immediately pegs above the full mark. Disconnecting either of the wires to the gauge has no effect on it, but when you turn the key off, it goes back to zero.

I'm frankly stumped as to what might be causing this. Any thoughts?
Bill Lugg
 

Kalums

New member
Might be the gauge it's self if. Is it the original gauge? Some of the old original ones the coiled spring loses all the "spring" so when electricity of any amount is introduced.... Bing "full" tank.
Or it could be a bad ground, is it grounded only to the dash or are there 2 separate grounds?
 

luggw1

New member
AFAIK, it's the original instrument cluster. the interesting thing about the ground situation is that the old sending unit didn't have one, but the new one does, so I grounded it to a stiffener on the body in the same way my 84 is grounded. I'm not sure where the grounds are up under the dash; I'll have to stand on my head and poke around with a flash light to see what I can find.

If it's a bad gauge, I'll have to replace the whole cluster, of course. I have a spare out of the 85 (it's a long and sordid story) that I might be able to use...I think. I don't think they changed much from 76 to 85, with the possible exception of the addition of the 4WD indicator that's missing on the earlier model.

Thanks for the good ideas.
 
Top Bottom