Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

My new girl came with some existing issues. I am respectfully asking for some of you to point me in the right direction. A 1949 Super Eight. Speedometer bounces all over the place, starts out at 30, then bounces back and forth between there and 80. Fuel sending unit does not work, previous owner told me if you hit the right bump it will work for a while. These things are important to me to have working before I tackle the minor issues.

Thanks
Dave O

I would take care of the speedometer right away before the needle swing gets so bad it can damage itself. There is an oil hole on the back of the unit that lubes the input bushing. That bushing has probably not seen any lube since early days.

I would also take the opportunity to pull the inner speedometer cable out of the housing and check it for kinks or broken strands and then apply a new coat of light grease or speedo cable lube as you insert it again. The cable should pull out from the top end but be careful to have rags handy and use care to coil the cable up as it comes out so a loose end does not flop around and hit some upholstery.

The 48-50 fuel senders are unique to those years. NOS is hard to find and as far as I know there are no repros made. Best bet would be to send it to one of the instrument shops to see if it can be rebuilt. If not that is going to present a problem as it will need to be replaced.

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Fuel sending units are a problem for the 22nd. 23rd. series Packards. Howard can get into more detail then I can, but they are very hard to find. They show up on ebay now and then and are expensive. You check the dash unit by grounding out the wire to tank sender for a second or two, watch the gauge and don't let it go past 3/4. If the gauge works it's time to drop the tank (some people cut a hole in the trunk to remove it, check for one before dropping the tank) and remove the sending unit. First thing to check is the float to see if it is full of gas, your lucky if it is and they can be soldered to repair. You need an ohm meter to check sender, terminal to base and slowly move the arm. If it doesn't work clean it up if dirty and see if the arm moves the diaphragm, some times they are rusted to pieces. Hope this has been of some help Dell

Thank you both for the info, and for a starting point. I did look at the site for repairs for the sending unit. I found a site listed there as Antiqueinstruments.com I did check the site, and looks like it's still in business.

You might also try Dan and Samantha Ohora at Tri-Starr which may even have one in stock for exchange or can rebuild yours as long as there is something left to rebuild! They also make new senders which, of course, would not require a core.

jc Wolf repaired mine-he advertises in Hemmings

jc Wolf repaired mine-he advertises in Hemmings

On a particular I Buick remember the mechanism would bind on something whereby the needle would start rotating 360 degrees and flew apart.