1987 R30 fuel gauge not working

[87becky]

Hey everyone, new her eon the forum and ive seen some good helpful things but im have trouble getting things to work. i have a 1987 r30 cab on a 4x4 frame with the 350 TBI motor. A friend and i built it a while ago when he use to have it. i now own it and have changed a lot of things since then. its main use is for four wheeling but i also drive it on the street. a recent problem i had was with the fuel pump. i didnt have it grounded out so before i figured that out i cut wires not knowing what they were gong to and now they sit there doing nothing and since then my fuel guage hasn't worked. i have tried connecting wires together and i have had the guage move but its not correct. if any one can help with wire configuration thatd be great. i also have it set up for one tank but still have the selector switch connected to it all. any help would be great. thanks!!!

[bd]

Refer to the 1987 Wiring Manual (RV Section 29, Page 1 (page 203)) and this wiring diagram (% VileZambonie) from the Fuel Line Schematic thread in the Forum's Technical Pages.

[Irish_Alley]

girllllllllll, welcome from maryland lol

[diphthong]

When you say you cut wires, are you saying you cut sections from the wires or just made cuts in the wires? 

I downloaded the manual from the other post but it's a image, it wasn't ran through OTC (Word recognition software.) so separate words can't be searched for.

So without more time I can't give you the exact colors of the wires coming from the fuel gauge.  So in your predicament I would:

Ohm the wire ends from behind the fuel gauge with all the wires you cut, at least one should show continuity.  After you find it, this wire is either the 12 volt or ground side of the circuit, so do this, with your ignition on check to see if you can get 12 volts at the wire end.

If you get 12 volts:
find the other end of this wire (from your cutting) it will have the same color and striping and reconnect them, or quickly (touch on and off) ground this wire.  You just may have just woken up that fuel gauge

If you don't get 12 volts:
with the ignition on quickly ( touch on and off) apply 12 volts and see if this wakes up the fuel gauge.

If you didn't make Multiple cuts on a single wire, one of these should do something, that something could also be   blowing a fuse instead of what I've said, let me know if either of these blows a fuse.


Good luck.

[454Man]

I'm thinking you cut the wire and were you reconnected it had to much resistance.making it read wrong.

What's under the hood??? If you have to ask maybe we shouldn't race...

[rich weyand]

Don't forget that the sender wire is routed through that tank selector solenoid valve.  I am assuming that since you said you had it set up for one tank, that you disconnected the fuel lines from the valve and connected the one tank through to the fuel pump.  But since the wiring also runs through the valve, if you haven't jumpered the sender wire around the valve and you have the tank selector in the wrong position, it won't indicate.

[87becky]

thanks for the help you all gave. i got it all working and jujst when i do that a friend asked if i wanted a fuel cell he was using but got a new one so im going with that next so more wiring to figure out for me wont be too bad i got a good idea of whats going where. got other issues under the hood to figure out as well

[Irish_Alley]

well post them maybe we can help you out. and stop cutting wires 

[Captkaos]

If you connect them wrong it will screw up the gauge.
I would not use a fuel cell on something I am driving on the street.