Hi All. I've had my '76 40 since February and the gas gauge has never worked. Been ticking through a list and started tracing wires since I'm waiting on parts. I replaced the sender this week even though it tested right with 3ohms resistance. Connections in the dash look tight and I pulled it out of the speedometer cluster and sprayed everything with electrical contact cleaner. Started tracing the wires looking for issues and came across a splice in the engine compartment.
The wire is yellow with the red stripe. It is spliced in two spots with a larger gauge wire. One just above the rear harness connector and the other just before it enters the firewall. It is probably the easiest place for it to be in terms of access. Since it isn't working I will obviously cut out the splice and re-wire with waterproof connectors.
My question is does the gauge matter? It looks like the splice wire is a larger gauge. Would that be enough to make the readings not work? If yes, is the correct gauge 18? I've always thought of always ok to go larger on wire gauge but maybe not for a sender?
Photo of the splice below:
Thank you.
The wire is yellow with the red stripe. It is spliced in two spots with a larger gauge wire. One just above the rear harness connector and the other just before it enters the firewall. It is probably the easiest place for it to be in terms of access. Since it isn't working I will obviously cut out the splice and re-wire with waterproof connectors.
My question is does the gauge matter? It looks like the splice wire is a larger gauge. Would that be enough to make the readings not work? If yes, is the correct gauge 18? I've always thought of always ok to go larger on wire gauge but maybe not for a sender?
Photo of the splice below:
Thank you.