who's the wiring wiz?

[fourtss]

on my NEW 1967, ford f250, the temp gauge and oil pres gauge go all the way over when the key gets turned to on, then stay there after the truck is started, I'm willing to bet it's an easy fix but not sure where to begin, any thoughts, thanx

[FORDification]

You're saying the gauges completely peg out? That's the sure sign of broken sending unit wires that are grounding out somewhere or bad sending units. Since I kinda question whether both sending units are bad, I'd check the wires first, make sure the insulation is good and not touching metal anywhere.

[fourtss]

so my wiring is more than likely shorted out somewhere cause fuel gauge does the same thing

[FORDification]

FYI: When you test the temp, oil pressure and fuel tank sending units, the first test you do is to remove the wire and ground it. If the gauge pegs out, that tells you the wire is good. However, if the gauges are pegging out while they're hooked up to the gauges, then that means somewhere the wires that aren't supposed to be grounded, are.

You definitely have a short, though if all your gauges are doing that, it's probably not with the individual wires, more than likely it's up at the instrument panel. I'm sitting here trying to think of what they all have in common that would cause that, and the only thing that comes to mind is the instrument panel voltage regulator. I'm not an expert on these, so I'm just shooting from the hip here, but I'm wondering if your IPVR is bad.

[Leadfoot]

first thing you gauge and senders what brand? Because there is two main styles, and they work differently. One stile is the VDO is on its own and one other is the Stewart Warner/Autometer/Fierra......... so the sender/gauge must not be mix matched. they use different amounts of resistance in the senders. so if you mix them up it ether does not work, or the gauge gets pegged.

second are your senders the panic light stile

third its wired wrong 12v thats for light got mixed up with the signal input on the gauge.

[fourtss]

thanx guys I'll get the wiring this weekend, hopefully it'll cool off here so I can work outside

[68F250]

Your instrument voltage regulator is stuck in the "on" condition, that's why all your gauges are pegged. Two things can cause that, either the regulator is bad or the regulator is not getting a good ground on its case. I'm betting the case ground is flaky.

[fourtss]

well I have several options now thanx gentlemen

[68F250]

An easy way to check if the regulator's stuck on, pull off any sender wire (fuel tank is probably the easiest) and hook up a test light between it and ground. If the light stays on steady, the regulator's stuck.