Return to Sender

[Brad Hogg <roadhogg@xxxxxxx>]

I've been doing that every evening now for days.  I have had enough of it.
It seems that I may have gotten it fixed this time.  Here's the whole
story...

Way back, a year or more ago, I was toying with a Holley ProJection throtle
body fuel injection system on my car.  During this experiment, I took the
fuel sender out and welded (soldered actually) an extra fitting into it for
the fuel return line.  That went fine, for the most part.  After I abandoned
the ProJection system and went back to old faithful TQ, I had to plug that
newly created fitting in the sender.  No matter what I did, I couldn't get
it to stop leaking.  It only seeped really but it was enough to cause that
gas smell around the car after I had filled the tank.  This spring, I took
the sender out again (no easy feat).  I took the extra fitting out and
soldered a small piece of metal over the hole and soldered that up nicely.
The job was thorough and it didn't leak anymore.  I tested this by filling
the tank up all the way.  I then noticed that the fuel guage didn't work and
the red light was always on in the fuel guage.  When I'd taken the sender
out the last time, the grounding strap for the sender had broken and I had
forgotten to repair it and reinstall it.  I was sure this was the problem.
On Saturday, I repaired that grounding strap but that didn't help.  I also
noticed that the thing was seeping a little again...VERY little mind you.
On Sunday, I was at the Toy Store (Auto Supply Store) and I noticed some gas
tank repair compound.  I bought it and then took the sender out AGAIN and
put this putty type stuff all around the fittings etc to be sure it wouldn't
leak.  This stuff BTW was really awesome.  It is two putty strips
sandwiching some kind of hardner.  You just break off what you need and then
kneed it into a ball untill the colour is uniform.  You can feel it start to
get warm as the hardner starts working.  It hardens nearly hard but still
remains a little plyable.  Anyway, that stopped the leak but the guage still
didn't work.  Tonight, I took the danged thing out AGAIN and also took the
one out of my T&C parts car.  I had to syphon the gas outa the T&C as it had
over a half tank still in it.  (I can still taste gas)  I had to fill my
neighbour's pickup with the gas cause I had nowhere to put it.  Bonus for
him!  I noticed that the sender was about 2 inches longer than the one that
came out of the Newporker.  This made it harder to put back in because the
frame rail is very close to the tank in that spot.  I took both senders to
the bench and checked their resistance (what I should have done in the first
place).  The Newporker's didnt't work at all.  The T&C's worked perfectly.
I reinstalled the T&C's sender in the Newporker, removed it again so I could
install the rubber gasket, reinstalled it AGAIN and tightened everything up.
After I let the car down, I am sure the gas covers the sender and it doesn't
leak so, wish me luck!  Now for the ironic part!

You'll recall that this ALL STARTED because I wanted to put an extra fitting
into the sender plate for the EFI return line!  Well!  The T&C's sender HAS
ONE!!!!  I actually had to plug THAT fitting when I installed it in the
Newporker!   AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

Brad Hogg
Winnipeg, Manitoba
http://www.nybclub.org/bradhogg/index.htm
1978 Chrysler Newport 4-door Hard Top
1976 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham 4-door Hard Top
1976 Chrysler Town & COuntry 9 Passenger Station Wagon <--parts
1968 Chrysler Newport Custom 4-door Sedan