Gauge stuck at 1/3

[ascuro]

I was trying to fix the mess of wiring under my dash last night, and accidentally touched one of my test wires from the temp gauge to the dash. It sparked up a bit, and now my temp and fuel gauges are stuck at 1/3. Grounding them does nothing, neither does disconnecting the battery, or starting up the truck. I've even removed the resistor and printed circuit - still no movement.

They're just always sitting at 1/3 now - does it sound like I fried my gauges? The fuses look fine, and so do the wires.

 

[alec78]

If you removed them from having power and ground available then Id say you fried them. You could test this two was. First is get some wire and resistors and hook them to the battery. For the fuel gauge you'll need two 90 ohm resisters. Hook it up with one in series on the ground, if it moves to full it ok (so far) then put the two resistors parallel to each other, then put them in series with the ground it should read about half. Of course the cheaper test is straight to ground, should read empty, then power only should read about the 3 o'clock position. The Temp gauge would be the same, but I don't know the resistances to use. You could also get an ohm meter and see what the circuit is putting out.

That being said, if you have no clue (not trying to insult) what I'm saying, PM me and I'll explain it in easier terms. If you post a reply I most likely won't read it as I don't keep up as well as I used to (darn that midnight shift) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........