Speedo / Tach / Gauges: Avanti fuel gauge moves to top of repair list

[sbca96]

I drove the Avanti again to In N Out Burger in Santa Barbara. My bro
is visiting from Michigan, and he rode with me. He was impressed at
all I have done to it, and I got to show him closeup the brakes. The
drive into town was uneventful, and my wife made the trek in her '95
Z28. She ended up wanting to leave early, so she drove my bro back to
where he was staying in S.B.. I drove home later up North. I made it
halfway home, and ran out of gas. Luckily it was right at the rest
stop, & came to rest about 20 feet from a pay phone. At 2am the wife
filled the 2.5 gallon gas can, and made the 23 mile trek to where the
Avanti died. After pouring gas all over the drivers rear fender, the
car was running again. Got home about 3:30 am, with Avanti smelling
of gas, and an unhappy wife.[V]

When I got the car, the fuel gauge worked, it stopped working a few
years ago, and my solution was to just put 10 bucks in each drive to
and from S.B.. Where should I start in my adventure to get it working
again? How do I confirm the gauge works? What voltage do I look for
at the sender? Thanks for your help.

Tom

'63 Avanti, zinc plated drilled & slotted 03 Mustang Cobra 13" front disc/98 GT rear brakes, 03 Cobra 17" wheels, GM alt, 97 Z28 leather seats, soon: 97 Z28 T-56 6-spd, Ported heads w/SST full flow valves, 'R3' 276 cam, Edelbrock AFB Carb, GM HEI distributor, 8.8mm plug wires

[StudeRich]

Tom; I believe that at the wire at the gauge from the sender, or at the sender you will find no voltage, only OHM's resistance.

I think we have posts saying how many OHM's on Hawk/Lark, not sure about Avanti. Maybe all independent makes of cars with SW systems are the same, I know they are way diff. than GM.

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[StudeRich]

Wow Tom, I just checked the Avanti Shop manual for you to see if they give OHM's readings. But I found something better, on Pg. 4 of the Gasoline Section it discribes how to check out both gauge and sender with no tools, gauges or anything!

Typical simple Stude. stuff. If you don't have the book, I could email what it says, a bit involved.

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[robchhi]

StudeRich,, is it possible to email this info to me at robchhi@gmail.com?

[sbca96]

Hey thanks ... I dont have the book, only the Studebaker shop manual.
If you can scan the pages, that would be great. I bet its something
simple .. but .. the more info the better before I dive in!

Tom

[StudeRich]

Tom I have it scanned in but, I cannot make this computer log on to the main page of the forum, only the new post function, so I can't go to your email. Just send me an email and I can return it with the pics of the Manual.
Rich.

quote:Originally posted by sbca96

Hey thanks ... I dont have the book, only the Studebaker shop manual.
If you can scan the pages, that would be great. I bet its something
simple .. but .. the more info the better before I dive in!
Tom

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[StudeRich]

OK Tom, I sent the copies of Pg. 4 & 5 of Gasoline Section of the Avanti Workshop Manual fuel gauge and sender testing.

For those of you that are curious, they basically say to disconnect the sender with power on, you should get an "EMPTY" reading. When testing the gage you should get a "FULL" reading when grounding the sender wire. They also tell you how to test the wires.

StudeRich
Studebakers Northwest
Ferndale, WA

[Chucks Stude]

$10.00 does not buy the amount of gas that it used to. While it may have been enough before, there is more alcohol and the price has gone up, affecting your ability to make the trip on 10 bucks worth. May have to increase to $15.00, at least.

[starlightchamp]

Hi Tom,

Check the grounds on the case and the sender top flange. I suggest running a wire from one of the sender mounting bolts to chassis ground. The fuel gauge has two insulated terminals assuming the Avanti's is similiar to my Hawk. 12volts comes in one terminal, goes into a heater coil that moves th pointer by thermal expansion and then flows through an opposing coil that moves the pointer toward empty depending on the sender resistance. The second terminal has a wire that goes to the sender.
My former gauge, with a full tank, would slowly move to half full and then snap to past full. A new gauge fixed the problem but I dissected the bad gauge and watched the action with a bench set up.
Maybe I can find an open heater coil and repair same.
...Dick Curtis

[John Kirchhoff]

Probably the first thing you want to do is to take the little prom queen out to dinner and a movie. That way, if your gauge repair fails and you run out of gas again, you won't find yourself walking/divorced/dead or maybe all three in that order.

[sbca96]

It says "empty" all the time. So maybe its just a bad connection.

Tom

[fmarshall]

quote:Originally posted by starlightchamp

Hi Tom,

Check the grounds on the case and the sender top flange. I suggest running a wire from one of the sender mounting bolts to chassis ground. The fuel gauge has two insulated terminals assuming the Avanti's is similiar to my Hawk. 12volts comes in one terminal, goes into a heater coil that moves th pointer by thermal expansion and then flows through an opposing coil that moves the pointer toward empty depending on the sender resistance. The second terminal has a wire that goes to the sender.
My former gauge, with a full tank, would slowly move to half full and then snap to past full. A new gauge fixed the problem but I dissected the bad gauge and watched the action with a bench set up.
Maybe I can find an open heater coil and repair same.
...Dick Curtis

My gauge does exactly the same thing that yours did! I was going to check the wire, Now, I'll just test the gauge to see if it repeats the "leap" to full.

I also ran out of gas today, as it has been on empty for a short time and I was certain I had gas. Luckily, it flamed out and coasted (up hill) right into a gas station, right to a pump!! Impeccable timing. Good Studebaker!!

BTW, any luck effecting a repair? Isn't that "heater coil" merely a length of a particular composition of wire a certain length, coiled to act as a resistor? That being the case, it may be fairly easy to make one. The wire, being coiled, gets hot and expands. hat technoloy is employed in lots of relays. one example is the turn signal flaser on old VWs - circa 1950s.

[Rerun]

When you think Avanti, think electrical grounding issues. Since the body is fiberglass, it cannot provide a ground path like a steel body. Separate ground wires are required. In addition to checking the "hot" side of any circuit, make sure that there is a good ground path. The gauges won't work properly if not adequately grounded.

Jim Bradley
'64 Daytona HT "Rerun"

[starlightchamp]

fmarshall.

The coils are made with resistance wire and measure 200 ohms across the insulated studs.
I haven't been succesful yet in determine why the sudden leap from half full to past full.
The left coil moves the pointer toward full as it heats while the left coil appears to lower the pivot point. I'll play with it some more when I have time and post if I find a way to repair.
The gauge is very hard to find. I finally located one in Nova Scotia-the last one in inventory.
...Dick

[Stu63]

My Avanti Gauge did the same thing as starlightchap's. Using a spare sender I found that the unit was out of calibration. Using the screwdriver slots on the back of the gauge ( accessible when the gauge is open as shown ) the zero and span can be adjusted until the gauge reads correctly as the fuel level sender is moved thruogh its range. You will need a 12vdc power supply to do the calibration. (Hot to the gauge + gauge - to the sender + sender - to the power supply -.)My gas gauge is back in the car and is working fine. The previous owner had purchased a new sender which was not the problem.

Butler, PA
63 Avanti R1 R2899

[fmarshall]

Stu63,

Thanks, I'll check that out.