Autometer 2661

[Bob Cochran]

Two weeks ago installed Apillar and 3 gauges. One of them is the Autometer 2661. It was working fine then this morning weird things started to happen with it. With throttle steady psi is steady if accelerating it drops as normal to a low of 7 PSI but this morning all of a sudden it would go wild!! Jumping all over the place done to zero, upscale, downscale then stops jumping and holds stead. I have it connect to the injector pump schrader valve, 3 feet of braided stainless fuel line to the sender which I have remotely mounted on the fire wall. So the big question anyone have this problem? Is it the sender, lift pump, something else. I hate to think it is the sender after paying probably over $200 (*180 from Autometer then 70 for fitting and fuel line, etc. ) for the complete FP setup!! Now PSI seems to be about 8 psi higher than before in all phases. Seems to run just fine at the moment.

 

[mikeg135]

NOOOOO

Don't tell me that. I just got mine in the mail today, 2661.





Mike

 

[Bob Cochran]

Mike ~ I will let you know what I find out. Could be the exception as I have not heard of anyone having this problem. I had heard mounting directly to the engine would hurt them because of vibration. SOOOO mounted on firewall.

 

[SLittle]

I installed a 2661 a month ago with the sender remote mounted. I went with the electrical to keep diesel out of the cab. Worked fine for about a week. Well the sender was leaking and some of the fuel went through the wire cable into the cab and saturated the black box with a few drips onto the carpet, unfortunately the wife drives the truck and didn't bother to mention the diesel fuel smell in the cab



Anyway, the gauge was acting up as you described and eventually just pegged out permanently. Autometer had me ship back the entire gauge and they sent me a new one, works fine now. The original sender was about as big around as a fifty cent piece or golfball and was silver colored, the new sender is bronze and smaller around like a quarter.



HTH, Scott

 

[Bob Cochran]

Slittle~ I just went out and looked for a fuel leak did not detect any it was dry as far as I can tell after disconnecteing electrical plug. Should be easy enough to check by unplug electrical connector from sender I would think. My sender is the smaller bronze colored one. Thanks for suggestions.

 

[SLittle]

Bob - same sender as my replacement, hope mine holds up, so far so good. Let us know if you find the problem with your gauge.



By the way, I love these gauges, push on the foot feed and you get instant response from the Cummins and the gauges, you know exactly what is affecting what.



Scott

 

[Bob Cochran]

This weekend look for loose electrical connections and such. Probably like most things have to wait until fail completely to find cause. Yep, I let you know when I find the problem. Loved the guage until now.



P. S. Went out and with the wife watching the fp gauge I wiggled all wire. Nothing happened so back to waiting until something more perminate happens and I will know for sure, I think, what is wrong!!



I like my guages also even with the seemingly fluctuation problem.

 

[Bob Cochran]

Thinking

Thinking I bring this back to top and see if I am the Lone Ranger with this problem?

 

[SLittle]

Bob - Last weekend when I reinstalled the new gauge and sender all was working great. This weekend not so great, seems to be reading to high, sometimes needle moves wrong direction and it's pretty jittery and unsteady.



The only thing off hand I can think to try is bleed the line from the pump to the sender in case there's air stuck in it. Have you talked to Autometer about the problem?



How many of you are using the 2661 with no problems????



Scott

 

[Bob Cochran]

Slittle~I have not talked to Autometer yet and may have to at some point. Got an email from Old Man and he has the same set up as ours but while different the biggest thing is he connected to the bottom of the fuel filter. He does not seem to have the problem. He mentioned this and I had hear it before about the injection pump hammering the fp sender. I may change it as all it would need to do would be exchange the schrader at inection pump with the banjo on the bottom of the filter.



Let me know if bleeding the line helps. What bothers me is it worked then it started jumping around.

 

[Bob Cochran]

Slittle~today my fp started reading above 15 probably 16 basically now working like yours after your reinstall!!! Plan on trying to bleed this weekend and basically check all connections for tightness even though nothing seems to be leaking.

 

[SLittle]

Bob - I moved the braided steel line from the VP44 to the bottom of the fuel filter last night. The gauge was working properly again during the test drive. Of course, the gauge worked fine upon original install also



Anyway, it's working good for now. I did not bleed the line upon this reinstall either.



Scott

 

[Bob Cochran]

Scott~Did you just exchange the banjo under the the filter and schrader on VP44? Aren't there seals did you replace them?

 

[SLittle]

Bob - Yes, just swap the banjo from under the filter onto the VP44, the only seals are the two rubber washers on each banjo bolt and they can be reused. I actually have a set of Ray's (now Geno's) drilled out banjo's and have been putting them in. Still have two more to put in, it got dark on me the other night. Wifey said the gauge was still working fine yesterday.



Scott

 

[Bob Cochran]

Made the change today and everything steady and works great as it should. I have steady 16 PSI at idle though I hope did not mess up sender but it seems to work okay other than reading high. Not sure if 16PSI okay manual only says pressure of 10 minimum. Probably get another schrader and put on Pump don't want to confuse DC if they ever have to take a reading!!!!

 

[Extreme1]

A couple thoughts:



I was under the impression that the vibration discussed as the problem with these gauges was hydraulic. Meaning you would need a small orifice or a different port location to avoid - not vibration from being mounted to the engine.



You shouldn't have to bleed the line. Yes the air will compress. But then you'll have compressed air at the same pressure as the fuel and it won't matter. Ever watch the oil compress the air in a plastic oil pressure gauge line?

 

[B. Gill]

i have a mechanical guage mounted in cab and so far no problems and spent less than $ 40 and works just fine have monted on bottom of filter also have tried it pre filter but no leaks so far in the cab

electrical guages are ok but senders seem to be a problem besides being expensive

just my 2 cents

 

[Bob Cochran]

B. Gill ~ your right about expensive but I was uncomfortable having fuel inside the cab so I paid the price.

 

[SLittle]

Bob - Glad your gauge is working properly again. I usually see 13psi at idle, the old sender was closer to 12psi, my guage only goes up to 15.



Scott

 

[Bob Cochran]

Scott~ sure glad to here yours is working right I am worried that I messed something up as it read 16 at idle now. Other than reading so high everything works normally( I think 14 at idle would be normal). I wrote a note to Autometer service and you would not believe the reply I got. All I did was explain what happened and there opinion if the sender was damage. How to order a new one if so and what is the cost. I got mad and really let loose in my return answer. Anyway right now would not be a good time to go into it. Makes me get even more mad they got me angry to begin with. I am trying to think positive that it is one guy under stress as I think they must be a guality company had never heard anything bad about them here or anywhere else for that matter.



I will not get into a yelling match about them here at any rate. Will work it out with them directly by email or by phone tomorrow. Tonight, probably a good thing I could not call them.