did I just blow my gas gauge up?

so i got my new aftermarket 356 VDO gauges in, and everything went fine until I went ot hook up the gas gauge.... i was told my stock sender would work, when i turned the key on, the gas gauge pegged full.. thought maybe i have a full tank, ummm not, sure, turned the key off, double checked my wires and tried it again....

turned the key, gas gauge pegged full again, this time when i turn my key off, it doesn't return to empty

i don't think my stock gas sender is suppose to work with this combo gauge.... am i right?... I think I ruined my expensive combo guage.... what do you think?

any ideas? I tried gounding all the pins with the key off, to maybe bleed voltage to ground, but nothing, gauge still shows full

damm

Reply to
Skipnkuf
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I wouldn't expect the sender to damage the gauge, even if it is the wrong value. The stock gauge goes to near zero resistance when FULL.

See if you can find specifics on your new gauge at one of these:

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Speedy Jim (details of stock gauge on my site)

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Reply to
Speedy Jim

jim,

thanks a ton for ur links.... :), good news is I didn't ruin my gas gauge... I grounded the sender terminal like one of ur links said and the gas indicator returned to empty....

bad news is I don't know what kind of sender I need... I tried the pot test, but the smallest pot I had @ the moment was 50K, way too big for the 0~200ohms this gauge might be...

I put in an aftermarket VDO float 10~180ohms, but I'm not sure thats what I need... it gauge responds, but very eratic... @ 1/4 tank it said full and when I filled the tank up, the guage pegged like it did before... i felt easy knowing it wasn't blown after maybe 50miles the gauge went to 1/4 tank hmmmmm

@ a full tank the sender was showing 165ohms and my wire alone 15ohms in it alone, so I changed it.. haven't measured the sender since it went down to 1/4 tank, but I do have a trip meter so I do have an idea of how many miles I'm driving

worst case, if i find out I need a 0~90ohm float I could always throw a 100ohm resistor across the sender right? that would get me in the ball park...

maybe it's just a flaky float, or guage, i never had good luck with even the stock gas gauge reading correctly anyway, but i never had a trip meter so life was worse then....

anyway, i feel better knowing it's not fried chicken

thanks again for your help

Reply to
Skipnkuf

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