[T3] Fuel Gauge Grounding Solution

[William Jahn]

 My 73 already has a ground wire on one of the tabs on the back of black
plastic plug. It has a 1/4 female spade connector on it, forget which one
but it's a ground just for the fuel gauge. I noticed a few times that if I
turn on the 4 ways the gauge needle moves , I just reach up and pull it off
the tree on the left of steering wheel and see if it's tight and clean , if
clean , work it a few times and it clears the problem .

On Thu, Jan 26, 2023 at 2:09 PM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:

> This email list doesn't allow attachments, so I can't send one to the
> list, and
> taking photos is difficult for me, but let me try to describe this.
>
> There is a black wire that comes out a hole in the black plastic bulb
> holder.
> The hole is large enough to feed a brown ground wire in.
>
> On the front of the bulb holder there are 3 sockets that connect to 3
> brass
> pins on the back of the fuel gauge. You can see that the lowest pin is
> connected directly to the case of the instrument. Look at what that lower
> pin
> connects to inside the bulb holder. Solder the end of the new ground wire
> to
> one of the places that the ground pin is connected to.
>
> What I would supply would be a brown wire with a piggyback connector on
> one end. You would disconnect one of the ground wires from the back of the
> speedo and connect the new ground wire in its place. Then connect the
> removed wire to the piggyback connector.
>
> On late cars, '71 and later, there may be a free ground lug on a brace
> near
> the steering column. In that case, just connect the new ground wire there.
> If
> there's no free spot, use the piggyback feature, as above.
>
> Either way, your gas gauge instrument now has a reliable ground.
>
> Jim
>
>
> On 26 Jan 2023 at 13:04, Bryan Peters wrote:
>
> > Can we see a picture of the connection you make?
> >
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > > On Jan 26, 2023, at 9:20 AM, Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > Over the years, many people, including myself, have noticed problems
> with
> > > odd behavior of the gas gauge, especially with the key off and the
> E-flashers
> > > working. It was pretty clear to me that this was a grounding problem,
> but I'd
> > > never managed to figure out a solution.
> > >
> > > The problem is that the fuel gauge cluster depends on it's spring
> retaining
> > > clips to make a good ground to the backside of the dash. Over time, as
> the
> > > plastic dash pad shrinks, this connection becomes poor or nonexistant.
> VW
> > > should have fixed this in '69, when they added grounds to everything
> else,
> > > but they didn't.
> > >
> > > I finally got around to looking at this situation and I see that I can
> add a
> > > ground wire to the bulb socket that snaps onto the back of the fuel
> gauge.
> > > Connecting the other end of that wire to a good ground will solve this
> > > problem.
> > >
> > > This is an easy solution for '69-on Type 3s, where there are good
> ground
> > > connections readily available under the dash. It, or something
> similar, should
> > > work for earlier cars, but might require some modifying/innovation.
> > >
> > > If you have good soldering skills, I can send you the wire and
> connector that
> > > you can solder in yourself, for $5.
> > >
> > > If you prefer to mail me your bulb holder, I can add the wire and do
> the
> > > soldering for $10.
> > >
> > > Postage increases those prices to $10 and $15, respectively, so the
> best
> > > thing to do, as always, would be to combine these purchases with
> something
> > > else you need me to do, so they can all ship together.
> > >
> > > --
> > > *******************************
> > > Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> > > Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> > > *******************************
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
> _______________________________________________
> VWType3.Org mailing list - type3 at vwtype3.org
> To unsubscribe or change subscription options, visit:
> http://lists.vwtype3.org/listinfo.cgi/type3-vwtype3.org
> If you need more help, contact: gregm at vwtype3.org
>
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