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I am back to tweaking my 1953 DeSoto S16 V8. I believe I have the charging system working correctly. I will find out when I take it for a drive tomorrow.
The fuel gage read empty so I put about 7 gallons in it. It still reads empty so I am going to see if I can get this working. There was a very good article in the Adventures magazine but I do not know what issue it is in. I believe it could have been in the last two years so I will check those issues and probably more. Does anyone know or does anyone have any kind of index of subjects discussed in case it is a lot further back? My gage was working at that time. I believe the car sitting for a while caused this problem. Thank you in advance for any help.
Almost sounds like the float sank. I "THINK" that if you ground the wire that is on the sending unit the gauge should move to full. I would almost think the problem is in your sending unit. You should remove it and see if it actually moves up and down. The sending unit in my 1931 Ply. was completely rusted and could NOT move at all. Ground the unit and move the float by hand see if the gauge works. Shake the float to see if it has sank with gas in it. If it has a crack, replace it. (If it is one of those brass floats). I don't know much about a '53, but the info should be the same. I'm not sure which magazine had that article.
Jim
@jimmegee Thank you Jim. I do not know how to get into the tank. So I need some guidance as to what I am going run into. AI on my phone says they know about the fuel level system. So for now, I will see what info they have.
Hi Paul,
In my searching of past issues, the only one I can find or think of that had an article on this was Christina's fuel float replacement article in the March-April 2025 issue of DeSoto Adventures, which I sent to you via email on September 23rd. That article goes into a detailed explanation with photos of the access, removal, replacement (including a modern alternative to the cork), and reinstallation. Additionally, I would check that the ground is still good on it. Her '58 has a ground strap that could be cleaned and moved around. I am not sure how the '53 is grounded.
Thank you David. I am pretty sure that is the article. I will look at it closer tomorrow.
