1986 Ford 3910 Fuel Gage

maxf15

New User
Hoping for some electrical troubleshooting help here

Bottom line up front: Is it common for a fuel gauge to go bad in the instrument cluster?

Got no reading on my fuel gauge needle is straight down at the six oclock position. So of course I bought a new sender (before testing the old one). Come to find out the old fuel sender is fine. Reads from 34 ohms (full/up position) to infinity (down/empty position). Got 26.2V at the back of the fuel gauge behind the instrument cluster. Checked ground to the back of the fuel gauge behind the instrument cluster and got about 5 ohms. Also checked the sender lead and its good. Everything else on the cluster works fine.

Whats left? Can I repair just the fuel gage inside the cluster? Or is there something else I should be testing?
 
I attempted to repair a gauge on the cluster once and was unable to solve the problem the reason being the needle magnetically
deflects if I remember correctly...remembering a (high temp type insulation) wire wrapped around a shaft type thing.....prevents
bouncing around I'd assume. Wound up getting a whole new cluster from ebay for around 80 bucks, nice and shiny, made the
tractor look like a new one. So I equipped my other similar equipped Fords with new ones too.
 
(quoted from post at 16:15:40 07/27/21) Hoping for some electrical troubleshooting help here

Bottom line up front: Is it common for a fuel gauge to go bad in the instrument cluster?

Got no reading on my fuel gauge needle is straight down at the six oclock position. So of course I bought a new sender (before testing the old one). Come to find out the old fuel sender is fine. Reads from 34 ohms (full/up position) to infinity (down/empty position). Got 26.2V at the back of the fuel gauge behind the instrument cluster. Checked ground to the back of the fuel gauge behind the instrument cluster and got about 5 ohms. Also checked the sender lead and its good. Everything else on the cluster works fine.

Whats left? Can I repair just the fuel gage inside the cluster? Or is there something else I should be testing?
here does 26 volts come from?
 

Used to have a Ford 2600 12V system, I know. Just got this 3910, and the seller installed a brand new battery. I got 26V across the battery terminals, and 26V at the back of the gages. So, I just surmised it was a 24V system on this tractor. To be honest I was a bit surprised.

Either I have a bad tester, or the wrong battery was installed. All other electrics work fine, so probably the tester. Ill check today.
 
(quoted from post at 07:51:19 07/29/21)
Used to have a Ford 2600 12V system, I know. Just got this 3910, and the seller installed a brand new battery. I got 26V across the battery terminals, and 26V at the back of the gages. So, I just surmised it was a 24V system on this tractor. To be honest I was a bit surprised.

Either I have a bad tester, or the wrong battery was installed. All other electrics work fine, so probably the tester. Ill check today.

I'd start with a simple check, read the label on the battery and see what it says it is.
 
(quoted from
I'd start with a simple check, read the label on the battery and see what it says it is.

Rocket surgery, I know. I did look at the battery.It wasnt on there. Just CCAs. I use other heavy equipment that uses 60V batteries, so I just wasnt sure. I even looked at the batteries at Tractor Supply today just to see not one of them said 12V. They say what brand, what group, and what CCA Youre just supposed to know, apparently.

As it turns out, my meter was off. By about 14V With a good meter I have 12.6V at the battery, and to the back of the fuel gage. Bad gauge Im guessing. I wanted to keep the original cluster because it shows accurate hours on the tractor.
 
(quoted from post at 19:55:30 07/29/21)
(quoted from
I'd start with a simple check, read the label on the battery and see what it says it is.

Rocket surgery, I know. I did look at the battery.It wasnt on there. Just CCAs. I use other heavy equipment that uses 60V batteries, so I just wasnt sure. I even looked at the batteries at Tractor Supply today just to see not one of them said 12V. They say what brand, what group, and what CCA Youre just supposed to know, apparently.

As it turns out, my meter was off. By about 14V With a good meter I have 12.6V at the battery, and to the back of the fuel gage. Bad gauge Im guessing. I wanted to keep the original cluster because it shows accurate hours on the tractor.

Good you found a problem with your meter.

Does your instrument cluster use the voltage stabilizer? Is it working?

The BCI group number is an industry standard for the voltage, dimensions, and post locations of a battery. The group number can be referenced to find the voltage if needed (I know it is another step to find the voltage vs the voltage just being shown on the battery label). Performance data like CCA, reserve, etc. can/will change, between manufacturers, within the same group.
 
No voltage stabilizer on mine. Is it possible to do a component repair (I.e. replace just the fuel gage portion) on the cluster? I know its less than $100 for a new cluster, but Id like to keep the original if I can.
 

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