I'm sure I got a short.

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

Forgot to mention.
Once I fix this fuel sender wire soldering.
I'll have a new skill and the tools to do it with.

So the way I see it the money I'm spending now is it investment in myself and my truck.

Instead of spending $85, $90, $100 on a fuel pump assembly.
I will spend $50 fix my problem and gain a new skill at the same time.

 

[Curious Hound]

Electrical solder should be "flux core", meaning it has flux in it already. Never use "acid core" solder for electrical work. That is only for plumbing. It will corroded and cause problems. I hope you got a soldering iron with enough wattage. Soldering to that metal will require a lot of heat.

Good luck.

 

[Brain75]

I'm utterly convinced that the blue wire (which is supposed to be sending unit signal) is wired wrong (to the case ground not the wiper or the windings)... not to drive too hard, but would a couple more minds take a look at pic #3 in post 397 (here again)... to me it looks like the wiper is jumpered to the windings and the blue just runs to ground - which would never work, and wont work even if you jumper any which way - have to move 2 wires. I think he needs to switch either black with the blue to get power to flow through the rheostat. I'm not trying to be too pigheaded, I just want to make sure ya get it right first try, and Doug is a novice electrical so extra help is appreciated.

I think the (aftermarket) factory just assembled it wrong and the PO put it in, it didn't work so he decided to just get rid of it.... broken from day 1.

 

[RobbieD]

I'm utterly convinced that the blue wire (which is supposed to be sending unit signal) is wired wrong (to the case ground not the wiper or the windings)... not to drive too hard, but would a couple more minds take a look at pic #3 in post 397 (here again)... to me it looks like the wiper is jumpered to the windings and the blue just runs to ground - which would never work, and wont work even if you jumper any which way - have to move 2 wires. I think he needs to switch either black with the blue to get power to flow through the rheostat. I'm not trying to be too pigheaded, I just want to make sure ya get it right first try, and Doug is a novice electrical so extra help is appreciated.

I think the (aftermarket) factory just assembled it wrong and the PO put it in, it didn't work so he decided to just get rid of it.... broken from day 1.

View attachment 124069

I thought so too, at first. I had to look at his pic real close, but I'm seeing the blue wire terminal coming out of the plastic sensor housing; at first glance it looks instead to be coming off of the metal plate. The color of the plastic and the lighting makes it look like the metal plate.

The grounding tab on the plate is folded down and goes through, it looks like, a slot in the sensor housing. See where I edited the pic:

And Doug's testing seems to point toward that it's OK.

 

[RobbieD]

Can anyone tell me what to buy?

When I was in prison one of the guys that worked on things there told me to put solder on my wire before I even put the wire to what I'm soldering to.

They also told me to get solder on the piece that the wires going to attach to.
Then you can lay the already pre soldered wire onto the soldered point that you've already made on what your soldering to.
Put your heated up soldering iron on top of the wire that's already soldered and the solder point that it's laying on, heat it up once you see the solder melt take soldering iron off.
Then it should attach.

That is all correct. That was good advice.

Forgot to mention.
Once I fix this fuel sender wire soldering.
I'll have a new skill and the tools to do it with.

So the way I see it the money I'm spending now is it investment in myself and my truck.

Instead of spending $85, $90, $100 on a fuel pump assembly.
I will spend $50 fix my problem and gain a new skill at the same time.

THAT, is the way to look at it.

You'll do fine.

 

[Brain75]

Man that color looks so like metal to me... but yeah your light blue highlight I can see that left more black wire is going to case if I look closely... Which all that now makes a lot more sense as most of the sending units have the windings connect at the very bottom (where the blue wire attaches), but is usually a round ring connector rather than a spade to a terminal (1 extra parts, more cost).

So the right most (black) is the wiper, and it goes to case ground, the center (black) is case ground, and the left most (blue) is windings if I am following along.

 

[Brain75]

Thanks for the extra set of eyes and correction - just want to make sure we got Doug on the right track.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

So if I use the flux paste I bought and the solder turns out to be flux cord will that hurt anything???

Brain, I'll be the first to admit that I'm really a novice.

Try zooming in on picture number 2 it may help you see it better.

And yes I appreciate everyone's help.

I think what I'll do,
is before I solder anything I'll un-plug both wires for the actual fuel pump, from the underside i.e. the in tank side of the (fuel pump assembly
" cap " <--- is what I'm going to call it ).

I'll use a smell a wire with alligator clips on each end of it. I will hook each end of it to the soldering points I believe I'm going to be using.

Which are the underside i.e. the in tank side of the Ground pen, peg, post. <---- what it's name is.
And the clip on the black wire that plugs in at the plate.

Once I have double alligator clip wire hooked up at each end I'll replug in the wiring harness and have my brother watch the gas gauge as I play with the float arm.
That well tell me if I'm using good placement or not.
If not I will move the alligator clip at the sender unit to the other point where that black wires hooked up and try again.

Once I know I have good placement for where my wires going to be then I'll do the soldering.

I will try to solder right at the point where it's already soldered onto the sender.
And the other end on the underside i.e. the in tank side of the fuel pump assembly " cap ".

What I bought at Harbor Freight and O'Reilly Auto parts.

The round can you see bottom right is the flux paste I bought at a O'Reilly's. The rest came from Harbor Freight.

 

[Brain75]

I hate being Safety Sally, but because you are a bit novice let me throw this out... Gas doesn't really burn but gas FUMES readily... explosively. So that bucket turned upside down is kinda trapping fumes (which is fine)... just make sure all your connections are good and solid before flipping the key on - don't want sparks near that open tank.... I do all my testing at the bench (30 ft away) to make sure the sender is operating perfectly, then take it to the truck and hook it up once - no moving live connections around (sparking) right next to an open gas tank.
And of course it goes without saying don't solder right there standing over the tank.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

But I thought I supposed to solder with my hands in the tank.
With only about 1/8 of a tank of gas in it.
So the rest of it's all fumes.
Lol.

 

[Curious Hound]

But I thought I supposed to solder with my hands in the tank.
With only about 1/8 of a tank of gas in it.
So the rest of it's all fumes.
Lol.

Please. No. No. No.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

Curious, the package says that the soldering iron is 30 watt, 120 volt and gets to max temperature of 735.08 Fahrenheit.
With two-prong non-polarized 18 AWH cord.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

The people in the near by houses say,
" What was that big boom!!! And where'd this big hole come from?!?!? ".
LMAO.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

If I'm playing with the float arm manipulating the signal from the center unit, Will the gas gauge move at all with the key in the off position?
If so there's no worry about any sparks at all.

If not then what I'll do is once I unplug the 2 wires for the fuel pump I'll put some black electrical tape over the points where the wires plugged in.
That way there should not be no power or anything coming out of those plug points.
Maybe even put some shrink tape on it.

And yes of course I'll do that far away from the open gas tank.

 

[Brain75]

"Will the gas gauge move at all with the key in the off position? "
I saw a youtube video where a guy claimed it has 3 modes. Key OFF Fueling, Key On Fueling and Normal... supposedly to allow you to see the needle move with key off... but my truck (2nd gen) is stone cold dead with key out of ignition only thing that works in accessory is radio - so i am betting that is a change later than mine.
the takeaway was Key off fueling needs a minimum 1/8th tank change (in the 'more full' direction) before it starts moving and is supposedly faster reaction.

Depending on version of the slosh module could be 10 seconds 55 seconds or according to AK Ranger (4th gen) several minutes before the needle moves. I think on my 2nd gen it was slow enough to be irritating but not obscenely slow so I think more like 10 sec for me.