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.....I put the meter on the leads from the sender and it still showed infinate.
Not looking too good is it? You mentioned before that different readings would mean different things. What does this mean?
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Jon,
Infinite means is not any connection, is open, this wire not connected to anything that is connected to the other wire, same as meter leads held aprt not touching anything. More specifically it means that the meter puts out some voltage and measure no current flow. That is how a ohm meter measures resistance; it puts out some voltage and then measures the current and based on the calculation of voltage and current determines the resistance, the more current means the less resitance, the less current the more resitance, no current means infinite resitance (open), maximum current is zero resistance (short). Could also do the same thing (and maybe it does) by putting out a small current and measure the voltage, the higher the voltage the higher the resitance, the lower the voltage the lesser the resistance, no voltage is zero resitance (short), max voltage is infinite resistance (open).
THis is why your meter might work to measure voltage, but not work to measure resistance. When measuring resitance (ohms) is the only time the meter has to put out something, all other times it is only measuring what it recieves.
Hum, speaking of definitions, I suppose this meets the definition of : Ask what time it is and someone tells you how to build a clock.
About your sender and what this infinite resitance might mean:
One wire of the sender should be connected inside to a brush or a finger type thing (maybe call wiper) that touches and moves along a the length of a resisitor. And the other wire of the sender should be connected inside to the end of the resistor. So when the brush-finger thing moves to the far end of the resisitor you should see all the resistance of the resisitor (approx 120 ohms), when moves to the middle should see about half the resistance, and when moves to the end closest to the the other wire then should see about zero resistance as if the two wires are just about touching each other. That is what it should be, but your test shows infinite resistance, like nothing is connected. The knee bone aint connected to the shin bone, or the shin bone aint connected to the ankel bone, or the ankel bone aint connected to the toe bone.
Have not had this experience myself, but I understand that Most likley suspect is that wiper finger brush thing isnt making contact to the resisitor. Either worn away so not touching, or some buildup of material (cream stuff?) or maybe dried up lubricant. I havent seen BassCliff tutorial (looked, could not find, duhhh), but I suspect using some contact cleaner or some solvent and/or just bending something so makes better contact is the first thing to try. Other suspect is the resistor materail has detererated and failed, I dont know if the resistor is a winding of wire or what. Other suspect could be an internal connection where the wire is suppose to connect.
If you have the sender open, and want to explore further, and still have the meter whos ohm scale works, this is what I would do: You could put one meter lead on one wire and then probe around inside the sender with the other meter lead and see where you loose/regain the connection (metr measuring ohms). Then try it on the other wire, and probe around inside the sender with other lead and see where loose/regain the connections. Maybe both those test indicate the same point. Or try both meter leads between different points inside the sender. Untill you find where you are loosing the connections, we are just quessing at what the fix might be. When you find specifically where you loose the connection, then can determine what/if the fix might be. Also keep in mind that when probing around inside, that putting the meter probe on something might be pushing something around and temperarily change something, just be aware of that.
Maybe your meter has a continuity tester mode that beeps when there is any connection. That might make this testing inside easier. But maybe it doesnt beep if 120 ohms.
Tell us more what you find.
I know my discussion here is very verbose, I could just blurt out something, but you seem to want to understand, so I dont mind trying to explain for your better understanding.
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>>>>>Later Note.
If cream stuff got inside the sender, that would not be good, cuz that would mean that gas could/would also get inside. And I dont think it is supose to (dont really know), and seems like it should not.
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) and it says it should read 000 with the leads touching each other. It does not mention anything about the leads being apart, but the reading is still 000. I know the meter works as I have used it for other things with success. I have even checked the fuse and the battery in the meter, all is good. 