3020 fuel guage troubleshooting

I'm trying to run down the cause of my none working fuel guage I have power and ground to the guage. I ran a direct wire (-) from the battery should the gauge show full w/direct ground ??? Thanks for any insight on this problem Doug R

Is it 24 volt positive ground or 12 volt negative ground??It makes a major difference on replacement parts, as for testing, turn the key on and remove the sender wire up front,,ground it to the frame, this will make the gauge go to full if it's working,,if this happens then remove the sender, if it's an old one the years of bobbing around has probably worn it out..

Its a 12v neg grd. and thats what I did so I would guess its not the sending unit because the guage never moved ordered a new guage Thanks for your help Doug R

12 volt neg. ground requires a RE53664 gauge,,be sure this is what you get, some dealer parts reps are still confused about which gauge to send out,,the wrong one is fried as soon as you turn the key on...

I ordered it from stiener says its a 12v hope it the right one

Tim is that a J D # you gave me ???

Yes and the only one I would rely on,,,went through a lot of trouble with these a few years ago,,and finally came up with the correct one for each application...

Tim I called our J D dealer this morning gave him that # he said it was not the right one for my tractor gave me another differant # price from ma deere 140.00m Ill use a broom stick.Thanks Doug

try evergreen rest. I know they have the correct gauge that fits the dash.also better price than jd # 715.635.8629

I'm not surprised that they told you it was wrong,,,BUT it is right,,I had the same trouble around here till I proved it to my dealer...

If you are interested I can tell you how to convert to "universal" gauge and sender (sender is jd). The gauge can be gotten from deere for $$ or off shelf at autozone for 15$. I converted 2 4020's to this and like knowing I don't have to spend a ton of money for the deere gauge any longer.

Get the fuel gauge sender AR46268 (201000- 4020). It is the "universal gauge" ohm range. It puts out 240 ohms empty, and 33 ohms full. With that range you can get off the shelf generic 2" gauges anywhere. In dad's I put an Aquus gauge and it looks nice, in mine I have a Sunpro and its cool too. The factory hole is for 1.5" gauges so I used a 2" hole saw to cut the dash (its crap grade aluminum). Most likely any gauge you use (even the Deere replacement ones) are to "deep" and will hit and short out behind them unless you bring them thru the front, not rear mount them like the factory did. You have clearance and it looks fine in my opinion. The late model 4020 sender I listed above was 60 or 70$ if I recall and you likely will never need to replace it again. I spent 15-20$ on each of the fuel gauges.

Here is a picture of my redone dash, I cleaned it up, painted it, replaced all gauges to match and added volts and oil pressure. I didn't remove anything.

If you want to test your gauge and sender you have now I can walk you through it.

Gauge:
-Its easier if you take the gauge completely out of the dash panel. Disconnect all wires from the gauge.
-Connect a jumper wire from your battery neg (-) post to the neg (-) post on the gauge.
-Now you need several varied ohm resistors from radio shack, they will cost a few dollars. Get like 10, 20, 30, 50, 100, 200 ohm ones.
-Take and connect a jumper wire from the battery pos (+) post to one of the resistors and it to the sender post on the gauge.
-I would start with the highest ones first, to little currect isn't bad for a gauge, to much, well not so much. If you have the late model sender I listed, 200 will be near 1/4 tank, 100 near 3/4, 50 near full, if any of this matches, your gauge is a 33-240 gauge and working. If all of those peg the gauge (I can't recall off the top of my head which is full/empty 0 or 30), move onto the 30 and less resistors. If the gauge doesn't not respond to any of these values its bad. If its bad then depending on if your gauge passes you can decide how to procede with replacing things, make sure you get a matched pair gauge/sender. If you want you can test the pair before leaving Deere (if you go there), all you need are three jumpers and a small 12v battery and you can do it right there on the desk and not take delivery if they dont work.

Sender:
-Preferably the tank is low or near full
-Disconnect the fuel sender wire.
-Check the ohms of the sender between the center screw and the rim of the sender where the screws are.
-(if tank is low) Using a wire reach in the tank and pull the sender arm all the way up. Check the ohms.
-(if tank is full) Using a stick or what ever push the sender arm all the way down. Check the ohms.
-Now you know about what ohms the sender is at a low tank and full tank. If your range is 0-30 ohms then you have the earlier style. If the range is aroudn 240 to 33 ohms then you have the new sender I listed. If you get neither of these reading or wacked out ones the sender it bad. I like to use an empty tank and i can watch my ohm meter while pulling the wire up to make sure you have a smooth transition through its number range. If the tank is real low taking the sender out makes testing it easier and then you can hook it to the gauge and battery and "play" with the float to move the needle.

I hope this helps, its really super easy, it looks like a big deal to test but its not. This helps rule out a lot of things like faulty ground at the sender (they ground through the tank but you can hook a jumper wire from one of the screws to frame). If you get a bunch of numbers and don't know what to make of them email them to me at
[email protected]
I will try my best to help.