Fuel and water temp gauge not working.

[JSanders10]

On my Massey 451, the fuel gauge and water temp gauge are not operating.
When I crank the tractor they both move only slightly from the far left position, like a hair or about 1/16". Not much. Doesn't appear to be a fuse, all my fuses look fine.
Ideas?

 

[Roadworthy]

I don't know your tractor specifically. I do know that on some vehicles (especially older ones) instruments do not operate on twelve volts. There is a voltage regulator dedicated to these instruments, frequently limiting them to about five volts.

 

[TractorGuy]

Most variable instruments have a constant 12v power and a variable ground signal. Check your ground connections.

 

[s219]

Yep, a lot of gauges function with a variable load to ground. Usually these grounds run through the sensor/sender and then goes to the closest convenient ground (could be the engine block in some cases), but sometimes they run back to a common ground location.

When I see multiple unrelated gauges fail, I think that either the shared +12V feed has an issue, or a common ground point has an issue. Both should be very obvious upon examination. From what you describe, I'd be inclined to investigate the ground.

 

[WranglerX]

IF you gauges are mounted to printed circuit board (modern tractors) check connections to board from sensors and check how tight (or corroded) screws are to connect gauge to PC board... Had loose screws on my temp gauge straight from manufacturing...

Dale