The only guages in my truck that work is the battery voltage guage. The fuel level guage worked once or twice since i had it, and the oil pressure guage kinda works some of the time. I have a manual oil pressure guage hooked up, so i know i have oil pressure. I would like to figure out how to fix the fuel level guage so i have a clue as to whats in there. Any ideas on what to check?

Also, for my auto trans to kick into overdrive, does it need to see some sort of ground speed reading for it to kick in? I cannot get the truck to get into overdrive, but i am thinkings its because my speedo is not hooked up.

 

If the truck sits a lot they can freeze. Try thumping the gauge cluster or driving through some pot holes. Next I would check the electrical connectors for corrosion.

 

Yes, O/D needs a signal from the speed sensor to shift. Not sure if this comes from the speedo head or the PCM. Sounds like you have either a grounding problem or a not-getting-power problem. I'm guessing it's just 1 wire that's seperated or not hooked up snuggley. When the guages work, is it all at the same time? That would indicate the 1-wire theory. Could be a fuseable link on the driver's fender, or a wire under the dash. Crawl on the floor, shine a light up under the dash, and see if anything looks "funny". Also check the driver's fender under the hood and check for anything that looks toasty. I've fixed a surprising number of these problems over the years by just finding a bad ground.