Kenny Bee 194
Member
The gas gauge in my 71 Nova hasn’t worked since I got the car (stuck on empty). This has made my trips in it somewhat limited not knowing how much gas I had. So I decided to do some troubleshooting to find and hopefully fix the problem.
My Nova has a 10 gallon RCI fuel cell with a tube type, 0-90 ohm sending unit driving the stock gas gauge. Troubleshooting revealed I wasn’t getting any change in resistance at the sending unit when I added fuel, so I removed it for inspection (a real P.I.T.A. to remove, BTW!).
Inspection of the unit showed that the float was stuck at the bottom. I disassembled the sensor by removing the two nuts holding it to the plastic top and pulling the electronics and float out the bottom of the tube. Upon removal of the assy., a small square magnet dropped out too. The magnet provides the signal to the electronics as the float moves up and down with changing fuel level and came out of a slot on the float.
I laid the electronics on its side and moved the sensor with its magnet to the 0%, 50% and 100% levels and got the expected resistance of 2 ohms, 57 ohms, and 90 ohms, respectively, indicating that the sensor’s electronics are working properly. Good news!
So, the sensor works fine, but I need to secure the magnet onto the float somehow. The float is closed cell foam, so I was thinking of using epoxy to secure it. However, I first wanted to quiz our forum members for any other, and potentially better suggestions for a "glue" that will withstand gasoline.
What would you members suggest??? Thanks!
My Nova has a 10 gallon RCI fuel cell with a tube type, 0-90 ohm sending unit driving the stock gas gauge. Troubleshooting revealed I wasn’t getting any change in resistance at the sending unit when I added fuel, so I removed it for inspection (a real P.I.T.A. to remove, BTW!).
Inspection of the unit showed that the float was stuck at the bottom. I disassembled the sensor by removing the two nuts holding it to the plastic top and pulling the electronics and float out the bottom of the tube. Upon removal of the assy., a small square magnet dropped out too. The magnet provides the signal to the electronics as the float moves up and down with changing fuel level and came out of a slot on the float.
I laid the electronics on its side and moved the sensor with its magnet to the 0%, 50% and 100% levels and got the expected resistance of 2 ohms, 57 ohms, and 90 ohms, respectively, indicating that the sensor’s electronics are working properly. Good news!
So, the sensor works fine, but I need to secure the magnet onto the float somehow. The float is closed cell foam, so I was thinking of using epoxy to secure it. However, I first wanted to quiz our forum members for any other, and potentially better suggestions for a "glue" that will withstand gasoline.
What would you members suggest??? Thanks!
