Westach 0-16 FP Guage Pressures

[klaybus]

Just came home from my 1st pull with my CTD... WOW!! Big difference between pulling my 24' 5vr with a 350 Chev ..... But I did notice a problem with my FP guage. On the way home after pulling a fairly large grade (Starbird Hill) I-5 in NW WA. I noticed my FP guage was pegged @ 16 PSI & I couldn't even get it to drop on a WOT! It's got the electric sending unit so I'm thinking it's somewhere in the wiring. When I turn the truck off the gauge goes to zero & when I turn the key on it stays at zero until I start the truck again & then it pegs again. Any suggestions where to start or has anyone else had this problem?



Thanks, Clay

 

[Bob Wagner]

did you plumb off the top of the fuel filter canister? Did you use a snubber?



The key on sounds right on, but the 16 psi all the time sounds very bogus

 

[klaybus]

FP

Yep & Huh? Snubber? I wiggled the wires on the sending unit & now it's working right. Bad connection apparently.





Clay

 

[ACoyle]

There have been problems reported with electric senders mounted directly to the fuel filter. A lot of us have mounted the sender elsewhere and installed rubber fuel line to the filter canister. This keeps it from getting shaken too much.



AC

 

[PMalin]

I have noticed similiar moments when my westech pegs at 16 something. But I also have an aux tank behind the cab, in the bed of the truck. I have been trying to notice if this occurs only when I am switched over to this tank, which sits physically higher than the stock tank. It is less effort on the lift pump to pump from this tank, as the fuel level is higher. I was thinking that being there is less resistance to the lift pump getting this fuel to the filter etc. . then my gage may read higher. I have been getting 14 psi readings on my stock tank, and occasionally on my aux tank, but sometimes it goes a little higher. I was also wondering about the injector pump, as I hear it has a bypass valve that opens when the fuel pressure increases to a point, and returns the fuel to the tank. It may be that sometimes this is occuring also, and lowering my psi to 14 when I am on aux with a higher fuel level. Does not appear to cause any problems though.

 

[jhurst]

I am having problems with my Westach fuel press. gauge too on my '99.

No matter what, it stays pegged right. I hooked a mechanical gauge up to check my fp and am getting 13 at idle, so I'm sure its in my wiring some way because it shows 16psi with just the key on.

I have double checked connections to make sure my wires are hooked to the correct posts on the gauge, and reversed the wire connections on the fp sender with no luck.

Any suggestions??



Justin H



Oh and I used a grease gun hose to connect the sender to the filter housing.

 

[Bob Wagner]

Justin, Its sounds like a grounding problem.



What did you ground the sender too?

 

[jhurst]

I grounded the sender to where an existing wire was grounded (a small, short wire going from the negative post on the battery, on the driverside, to the body).

So I have a wire going from gauge to one post on sender, then on to the ground.



Thanks



Justin H

 

[jhurst]

I just went out and used a short wire to try and ground the sender to other parts of frame and neg. battery post. Needle just stayed on 16psi.

The instructions that came with it say that if it reads full scale, that it isn't grounded properly.

So the ground sounds like my problem, I just don't know what I'm not doing right.



Justin H

 

[RBSOB]

Justin, ground your gauge seperately from your sender. Mine are installed for a year now and never a glitch. I can't remember the exact details [I will look it over if you need more help] but I did ground all my gauges near the mount and grounded the sender on the block. Re-check the Westach diagram, check connections and re-post results. We'll figure this out..... Jim G.

 

[Bob Wagner]

I used the ground at the grid heater



recheck your ground and all should be fine

 

[jhurst]

Thanks Bob and Jim.

I will try grounding the gauge and sender separately. I thought the Westach diagram showed the gauge ground going to the sender then to a ground

I'm back at college for the week so I might not get to look at it until Friday, but I will let you know how it goes.



Thanks!



Justin H

 

[jhurst]

Well today I grounded the sender at the heater ground and grounded the gauge to the frame. Still does the same dang thing.

Tomorrow I will check the wiring behind the A-pillar and see if something is wrong there..... Any more ideas?



Thanks



Justin H