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So I have been going around doing little things to my new acquisition - my '54 Clipper. I just went through and made sure every light on the car works - found I had to do a little surgery on the dome light switch, clean a socket or two, replace a couple bulbs, etc... Now every thing is 100%

My temp and fuel gauges are not working (dash lighting all works). I know there is a voltage regulator for the gauges, so I started by checking the voltage on both sides of the regulator - and I have over 6v on one side, and under 6 on the other, so it is doing something. Not sure what to check next... There are two "circuit breakers" on the back of the cluster also - I don't really know what these are. Are they fuses that must be replaced if they go bad? Resetable breakers? Do they reset themselves?

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Kind of hard to check that gauge voltage with a voltmeter accurately as the regulator is a thermal contact chopper off/on type with on giving full voltage out and off giving nothing out for an on/off cycle speed depending on load of roughly 5v to gauges.

Remove the wire from temp sender and ground it to block BRIEFLY while watching gauge. If the gauge starts to rise, then sender is bad, if nothing happens possibly wire or gauge or even regulator. Same with gas tank. Gas senders are frequently found corroded and not making contact in one or all spots in the range. If someone has put an incorrect temp sender then range or operation type could be wrong.

The breakers reset themselves. One is the body feed and handles most of the standard interior needs of the body -- some lights etc and other is the aux. breaker for some other items. The wiring diagram on site will help greatly if you have not downloaded it already.

If anyone is curious, here is what the regulator looks like and a typical waveform of the output (12v car shown). Many meters can't give accurate readings with that type of cycle. As explanation, heavy center line is 0v, peaks are roughly 13v and the squares are the actual time on--in this case it is cycling at roughly 1/10 second on, 1/2 second off. The lines below the center are noise generated by the contacts. 6v cars work the same but obviously a different rate and peak voltage.

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Thank you! I had my wife sit in the car and watch the gauge, as I grounded the wire going to the sending unit. Sure enough, the needle started climbing. I cleaned up the terminal on the sending unit hoping it was just a bad connection,but no luck.

Do you know if the temp sending unit is something NAPA might sell - or do I need to order from a Packard parts place?

I guess I'll look at the gas sender next. I don't even know where to look. Please tell me that tank doesn't have to come off.

Unfortunately the tank does have to come off if you need to change the sender. The wire exits the trunk almost behind the license plate in a little trough between trunk floor and outside panel. It may be a single wire or may share the hole with license light wiring. There should be a connector in the line but at the moment, don't remember if on top in trunk or just below the hole. Once found, you can remove the connector and ground the wire to gauge to test that theory if a sender is needed. If you can't find the connector, then the tank will have to come off.

Gas senders are the same as some Fords used and can be obtained several places. Temp probably also but those are relatively inexpensive from some vendors. Once you confirm you need one, several places have been suggested on site for the gas sender in addition to the regular vendors.

51-6 Packard used King-Seeley gauges and the ohm range is 10 ohms when full or hot and around 80 when empty or cold. Voltage not important on the senders--just resistance. GM and S-W ohm range senders are different and will not work. That may be your temp problem or possibly someone put an idiot light sender instead of gauge type sender in.

OK - the connector for the gas sending unit wire was exactly where you said it would be in the trunk. Grounding it confirmed that the gauge is working fine, so looks like I'm in for a job to replace that sending unit.

I appreciate the help.

This thread has several suggestions for the gas sender in addition to the vendors.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modules/newbb ... ic.php?post_id=58118#forumpost58118 Another place came up after that threadsecure435.hostgator.com/~dlvry40/ufolder/CgCat.php?onepart=B7A-9275-F so lots of choices. Some of the repros do look a bit different but the important part is the ohms and the retainer ring mounting method.

Vendors have figured out the replacement temp sender and are all around the same price on it. I'd go that way unless you want to try and match something Ford in the ohm range. Could probably get it that way for roughly half the price but more effort.