[AT] How to test a fuel gauge/Sender??--followup

[Bill Boyd]

Hi John,
Actually they are about as simple as you can get.
The important thing is to calibrate the sender to the tank when you replace it.
I have a 1972 MF 165. The fuel gage didn't work when I bought it. I checked 
the sender with an ohm meter and found it open.
I went to the Massey dealer and they sold me a one size fits all sender. 
The tank was still on the tractor and full of fuel.
I hooked up the sender before I mounted it to check the operation of the 
gage. It appeared to work ok.
A year or two later I was shredding and I notice the gage was below half 
full. I thought when it gets down to one quarter I will
go to the house and refuel. Then I noticed the needle wasn't bouncing as 
much as before. I realized I was almost out of fuel.
I made it to the edge of the field before it died. After I walked home and 
came back with the fuel can I had to bleed the fuel system, pump, and 
injectors before it would start . I wonder why they put the manual pump on 
the opposite side from the  injector pump. You either need a string or very 
long arms to work it.

FYI on my fuel gage it is marked 12V and 30 to 240 ohms.

Bill in N.E. TX


At 10:30 AM 9/15/2004, you wrote:
>Well, I've come the the disturbing conclusion that fuel senders and gauges 
>are not as simple and straight forward as I thought!!   My ohm meter has 
>shown me that my sender is kaput, but testing the gauge..........that's 
>another matter!     I'll go ahead and order a new sending unit and hook it 
>up to the meter with the original wiring hookup and see what happens.  At 
>least that should not burn something up.  I just might take a used up AA 
>battery like Mike suggested, short it out until there's next to nothing 
>left in it and touch it across the guage terminals briefly to see what 
>happens.  I hate to be bettered by a mechanical thing!   Never anticipated 
>the volume of responses on this question, and I sure appreciate it.  Hope 
>I didn't cause any serious problems!     John