Instrument cluster voltage regulator adjustment

[Calfdemon]

Reviving an ancient thread, but the info in it is needed by me at the moment (and I am sure others as well). Any chance anyone could repost some pictures regarding this topic so that those of us who werent working on this in 2006 can see what we need to be adjusting?

GREAT info (as always) on this site and this thread, but I am a bit visual and still am unclear about where this adjustment is.

Thanks in advance!!

[72 brownie]

just found this thread, i had the same problem with my gauges. here is the picture of the IPVR
here is the thread i already started http://fordification.com/forum/viewtopi ... =8&t=63385 wish i would have found this one before!!

the adjuster is circled, i adjusted it 3/4 of a turn clockwise and it fixed my fuel gauge, it was reading 3/4 full when the tank was topped off.
my other gauges are also reading better, however my temp gauge is still reading low, it may be due to a failing sending unit.

[jesseinbozeman]

Postby Jarrad on Fri Oct 13, 2006 11:25 pm

I spent a day getting my gas gauge working and thought I would post my method. I took the gage/sending unit out about 20 times to get it right. I found that if I adjust the voltage regulator up so the tank reads full when sending unit is at top then move sending unit to bottom the gauge reads 1/4. So The range and zero of the gauge needs to be adjusted. On the back of the gauge there are two holes with teeth visible in them. One hole closest to empty adjusts the zero point. One hole closest to full adjusts the range. Moving each adjustment toward the outside of the gauge causes the zero point to go down or the range to increase respectively. I had an empty tank so I put 10 liters of gas in and adjusted the zero to the empty mark giving me a reserve. Then I adjusted the range so that when the sending unit was in full position the needle was on full. You need to be careful with the adjustments if you go too far the gauge gets "floppy" and doesn't work. It takes some patience adjusting the voltage and the gauge but I got mine perfect. Now I will need to adjust my temperature gauge but now I can't change the voltage just the gauge.

So I too have troubles with my fuel gauge. At full it registers 3/4 tank, and at empty it registers 1/4 full. I have checked the sending unit and it puts out the correct ohms for full and empty. When the sending unit is out of the tank and i manually hold the arm to "full" or "Empty" The gauge will only display the range between 1/4 and 3/4. When I ground out the positive terminal on the tank the gauge will read completely full 4/4. And when there is now power the gauge will drop to zero. At first I thought the problem was the selector switch between the Main tank and the AUX tank. I know this switch just determines which sending unit feeds the gauge, but I thought I might be experiencing resistance. Not the case after I bypassed the switch. So now I am getting ready to try "Jarrad's" fix. Has anyone else done this yet? Success??

[1972hiboy]

this is a great post. I to am having fuel guage woes. I tried adjusting th ipvr but it still wasnt right. I didnt know there was an adjustment on the fuel guage itself? I will have to take my guages apart again and try this method. Anyone have a pic of the adjustments on the fuel guage jarrad was talking about?

[motzingg]

my gauge cluster took care of itself from me moving to texas. The sub-freezing temps and condensation was wreaking havoc with my gauges.

i still have the ground wire disconnected from my fuel sender, which causes it to sporadically read odd values as it grounds through the frame, but more or less it is accurate.


if anyone wants to try a solid-state regulator, the 7805 IC is a good candidate. It is designed to do 12v to 5v dc conversion and it is robust and has short circuit and thermal overload protection.

I doubt the gauges would over-draw it, but you can put a heat sink on it if it is overheating.

i'll probably do this when i rebuild my gauge cluster eventually, but for now it is working 'good enough'

[Heirloom]

The un-dead thread. This is AWESOME info and should be a sticky. Chronic gauge problems fixed here!

[1972hiboy]

The un-dead thread. This is AWESOME info and should be a sticky. Chronic gauge problems fixed here!

yeah this should be a sticky for sure.

[6Delta]

my gauge cluster took care of itself from me moving to texas. The sub-freezing temps and condensation was wreaking havoc with my gauges.

i still have the ground wire disconnected from my fuel sender, which causes it to sporadically read odd values as it grounds through the frame, but more or less it is accurate.


if anyone wants to try a solid-state regulator, the 7805 IC is a good candidate. It is designed to do 12v to 5v dc conversion and it is robust and has short circuit and thermal overload protection.

I doubt the gauges would over-draw it, but you can put a heat sink on it if it is overheating.

i'll probably do this when i rebuild my gauge cluster eventually, but for now it is working 'good enough'

[ Image ]

I hate guys who can make these kind of modifications!!! I can only solder a basic connector and really like to use a map gas torch for heat shrink tubing.

Glad this thread came back. I replaced my sending unit and have bent the h*** out of the arm to no aval, now to try the gauge itself.

[Montana71-F100]

I had the same problem and I was able to adjust mine. I had to remove it first. I used a multimeter to test the voltage. You don't need to take the instrument panel off to test it. Connect the multimeter to the sending unit on top of the tank. Whatever voltage is there comes from the voltage regulator. If it doesn't read 5 volts, it's too low. It will pulse. The regulator switches on and off to average 5 volts. I think I set mine at 6 volts. My gas gauge reads full now when it's full but it takes a lot of time to fill when it gets near the top.