1962 GMC 305V6 4WD Slow DD Build - Cecilia (Pic Heavy)

[FetchMeAPepsi]

So where were we? Oh right. I replaced that whole under-cab fuel filter with a new one and a new O ring. Should be good, right?
Nope.

Try as I might I still could not get gas to come to the carb. Or even to the filter! I primed and primed and primed and primed that carb but got nothing.

I thought, Hmm, maybe my carb filter is full or bad? Don't know how it could be, it wasn't before...but OK. So I took it off and ran straight pipe to the carb from the fuel pump.




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Still nuttin! I primed that entire hose then, to see if the pump would shoot it back out. Maybe the pump was bad? But no, it shot all over the place. Pump was fine.

I scratched my head, drank a pepsi, and thought a bit more. Wonder what would happen if I primed the whole line all the way to the under cab filter - wait, no. How about ALL THE WAY TO THE TANK???


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So I took a gray funnel and stuck some fuel tubing in it, about 2 1/2 feet worth.




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Then I stuck my fuel filter on the end to have it be the right size to fit into the fuel line that ties to the bottom of the fuel pump.




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Then I unplugged the fuel pump, held the funnel in one hand way up high (way higher than the gas tank inside), and started slowly filling the line up.
(no more pics, had to use 2 hands)


And when I was sure it was full and washing back into the tank, I hooked it all back up again, spilling gasoline all over myself and the ground, and tried to start her again.


And surprise, surprise, Cecilia came alive again! Woohoo!

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She smoked, and puffed like a railroad bull for about 20 minutes too. I don't know what crawled up her butt while she was parked but it was not happy about her running again, haha! Eventually she quit all the smoking though, and I thought "Heck, I might as well take the old girl for a spin".

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I stepped inside, shut the door, and put my foot on the clutch - and the dang thing went straight to the floor. It didn't even try to come up! I pulled it up by hand and ran around to check the master cyl. Of course it was dry.

So I filled it up, pumped the clutch by hand, and it still didn't stay up. Not sure what happened here, but as of right now I'm clutchless. I'll try to figure that out and get it fixed before winter. Talk about your let-downs!

[FetchMeAPepsi]

After sitting for a couple of days with the reservoir full I got it working again by pumping the clutch. I guess it just needed to drain down some, but there's still a leak to fix....


Also, Cecilia quit working again. As in, she wouldn't start. I pulled off the gas line and guess what? No gas. I guess all that time with the tank empty while I was changing it broke the fuel pump? I don't know, but either way I knew it wasn't pumping.

So, back to the auto parts store. I bought a new one for $80 bucks with a LIFETIME WARRANTY....




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And started putting it in, when the Powder Puff decided to come out and give me a hand! Surprise, surprise!




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We got it in pretty straightaway. I added a new clear fuel filter too so i can see what's going on in there. Part number:




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After that Cecilia fired right up again. She's alive!



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The Little Blonde pretend-drove her around a little before I got in to take them for a spin (she's in the foreground, just hair lol). I was surprised when I let out on the clutch and Cecilia didn't move. She revved fine, but didn't move an inch. that's when I noticed the 4wd lever sticking up abnormally. I guess The Little Blonde had shifted it up into neutral and I was just sitting there like an idiot, wondering what else was going to go wrong today!

Well once that was back in gear we took off down the road. Cecilia wasn't running right, pretty rough any time I gave her gas actually. And the transmission still won't go into 2nd gear. But we were able to scoot her around the block and wave at some strangers. Good times!

I think I'll pull her around to the garage next week and fiddle with that slave cylinder, transmission and maybe the timing a bit. Learning as we go!

[FetchMeAPepsi]

My last time to fiddle with Cecilia was October 2018. That's too long! I got out there today and you know, it's been rainy and yucky so it's wet everywhere. there's no reason to work on my other projects when it's nasty. Let's tinker with Cecilia! I miss driving her.

I also hate her wheels and tires. They're easier to turn, but they look so bad. I really need to do something about that.

Anyway, today was all just a tinker. I jumped in thinking i'd add just the right resistor to her fuel wire and poof! She'd be good again. Wrong!

I removed the sending unit.



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With the sending unit removed and the float all the way down (empty) I get this on the gauge.




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So I looked at moving this tab that keeps it from going down further.



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Like so..





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And while it did move lower for me, it still didn't make a difference on the gauge. It was like it was stuck at that 1/4 tank.

[James]

I recommend the fuel probe be installed in the gas tank before any troubleshooting can take place for safety reasons.

There could be issue with the power or ground side of the fuel probe. If you have a voltmeter you can test it for a faulty power or ground. But first before doing that let try this quick and easy test. Disconnect the wire from the stud. Connect a jumper to a good ground in the cab. The other end of the jumper to the wire (that goes on the fuel probe stud). Turn the key on. This should make the gauge reads empty.

The following tests must be done with the key on just like you need to read the gas gauge and all wiring connected. When checking be sure to check both side of a connector (i.e. The wire on the fuel probe stud, you would check the terminal then check the stud for power. It should be the same but it could have a thin film of oxidation creating a bad connection.) Also look at the wire where it attached to the terminal, if there any broken strands or a green coloration (corrosion) replace the terminal, this is added resistance.

After the quick test, if it doesn't read empty there is resistance/corrosion between the gauge and the sending unit. Using a voltmeter measure the voltage (check your wiring diagram first) on the back of the gauge. This voltage should be the same all the way to the fuel probe stud.

After the quick test, if it does reads empty use a voltmeter and see if there a voltage drop between the fuel probe base and a good ground, voltmeter should read 0 volts . If you have any voltage move the probe toward the ground point until you read 0 volts.

If you have a change in voltage drop the you have a bad connection (resistance/corrosion). Disassemble, clean, reassemble, and retest.

If you need addition help let me know.

[jagarra]

As you moved the float up and down, did the gauge follow it? I guess the next thing to determine is when the float is in the lowest position is the resistance the highest or lowest at the point. If it is lowest or zero then the gauge and sender may be mismatched.

If you have a meter what is the range as the float is moved over it's travel?

[FetchMeAPepsi]

Originally Posted by James

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I recommend the fuel probe be installed in the gas tank before any troubleshooting can take place for safety reasons.

There could be issue with the power or ground side of the fuel probe. If you have a voltmeter you can test it for a faulty power or ground. But first before doing that let try this quick and easy test. Disconnect the wire from the stud. Connect a jumper to a good ground in the cab. The other end of the jumper to the wire (that goes on the fuel probe stud). Turn the key on. This should make the gauge reads empty.

The following tests must be done with the key on just like you need to read the gas gauge and all wiring connected. When checking be sure to check both side of a connector (i.e. The wire on the fuel probe stud, you would check the terminal then check the stud for power. It should be the same but it could have a thin film of oxidation creating a bad connection.) Also look at the wire where it attached to the terminal, if there any broken strands or a green coloration (corrosion) replace the terminal, this is added resistance.

After the quick test, if it doesn't read empty there is resistance/corrosion between the gauge and the sending unit. Using a voltmeter measure the voltage (check your wiring diagram first) on the back of the gauge. This voltage should be the same all the way to the fuel probe stud.

After the quick test, if it does reads empty use a voltmeter and see if there a voltage drop between the fuel probe base and a good ground, voltmeter should read 0 volts . If you have any voltage move the probe toward the ground point until you read 0 volts.

If you have a change in voltage drop the you have a bad connection (resistance/corrosion). Disassemble, clean, reassemble, and retest.

If you need addition help let me know.

Thanks James! I'll give this a try tomorrow. The tank is empty so I'm safe

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Originally Posted by jagarra

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As you moved the float up and down, did the gauge follow it? I guess the next thing to determine is when the float is in the lowest position is the resistance the highest or lowest at the point. If it is lowest or zero then the gauge and sender may be mismatched.

If you have a meter what is the range as the float is moved over it's travel?

Yes, it did move as I moved the float. It's just that last 1/4 of a tank that won't disappear. The gauge stops but the float keeps going down.

High resistance is full, no resistance is empty. I didn't meter it since it seemed a ground in the dash on the gauge (?) may be the problem.

[FetchMeAPepsi]

I narrowed my gas issue down to the gauge. It wasn't connecting well under these posts.



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The grounding post went to this pin, that connects to the brown wire and runs to the gas tank behind the seat.




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Sadly, to test the connection i ran a direct line from the battery's negative post to the post on the gauge. it worked great, but when I pulled it off I accidentally hit the OTHER post with the grounding wire. That blew the entire thing!




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See the copper burned up by that pin? That's the pin that goes to the positive terminal (closest to the speedometer) on the fuel gauge. It also runs the Low Oil and Gen lights. The copper is very thin back there. It cooked straight through.

[FetchMeAPepsi]

So I cleaned up the terminals with a dremmel and a tiny wire wheel attachment. It worked great! i checked the resistance with a multimeter too and it was zero. Then I soldered the broken copper back together.




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With that part registering good again I thought, may as well clean all the connections up and get some dash lights again! So I wire wheeled (very lightly) all the electrical connections for every light. Now my Gen light works, my Low oil light, my Hi Beam, and Turn Signal, and even my night time lights work most of the time! Woohoo!
I still have a short on the light pull-out switch somewhere that keeps the night time lights from being 100% fixed. If I wiggle it it works.

Anyway, now that the gauge was good, i still was having problems with the gas registering right. Now instead of showing it 1/4 or 1/8th of a tank empty, it was FULL ALL OF THE TIME.

That means the resistance was 100% from the gauge to the ground wire, through the float! More mystery!


I put the multimeter on the sending unit this time and it showed zero connection. That's not right! I pulled the sending unit. I ran it through it's range and still got nothing until the very end of the range, at the FULL setting. It wasn't much though, huge resistance, as it should be at full.



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I traced it back checking for resistance and found that the break in connection was in the dang float resistance meter thingy (pictured above). I popped that open (it was only 20 something bucks) and looked inside. It worked at the top, like we already knew, but just under that the little tiny wire inside was broken! aha!

I think this must have happened when I bent the tab and moved it past it's intended area. I'll take blame for this one. To fix it, (no pics) I just bent the broken wire back under the neighboring wires so that it stuck with its own pressure. Now that I think about it, that's probably not a good idea. A broken connection in a gas tank?
I wonder if it'll spark if things get bumpy?

Looks like I'll be ordering a new one. I just scared myself.

Anyway, this is what the gauge looks like right now.



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Not too bad, huh? Oh, and look at this cool sticker I found in my speedometer area!




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It looks like that place is an inspection company now. I wonder what happened to it?

Well, that's it for today. tomorrow I'm going to try to tune the engine a bit and get her moving again. then I need to fix that 2nd gear issue that's driving me crazy.

[FetchMeAPepsi]

I meant to get her running again today and adjust all the little bits that make the motor run better, but I forgot that I ran the gas out of her to prep for the gas tank work. I spent over an hour priming and trying to start her again. Ended up having to prime all the fuel line back to the tank, and then prime everything in front of the fuel pump. Fun times.

Several times i walked past the bed and thought "I really need to make a maiden voyage to the dump". I have been throwing stuff in the bed for a while now. So once I was finished getting her running again I got the tailgate from the fence where it has sat propped up for the last (probably) 6 years. It was filthy.

I put it on the top hangers and checked the fit. I guess the ground didn't rust it down to nothing, thank goodness. It fit like a glove. Then it was time for the hardware.

I remembered seeing one of the latch bolts on a shelf with the spare tire holder. The bolt was still inside it, thank goodness.

But there was only one of them in there. And no chains. What the heck?

I poked around a bit and and then a tiny spark of remembrance sparked up - I liked to put stuff in plastic buckets when i was working on tearing her apart. And in the bottom of my parts cabinet I found this crushed, messy mess.



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But guess what?



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And?


Hallelujah!


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[FetchMeAPepsi]

I went ahead and hung the chain latches so the tailgate wouldn't fall on me.



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Look at that messy dirt still in there! That side channel is FULL!



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I dug it all out with a flathead screwdriver and blew it out with compressed air. (Yes, I did get that bit off the outside before I knocked off for the day!)



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Then I put the little round catch in the tailgate bottom like so.




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Surprisingly the bolt lined right up with just a little jiggering.





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Then I grabbed the ends of the chains. Thank goodness they're square bolts so I can figure out where they go without too much guessing.




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