[DeTomaso] Two dumb techno questions

[Charles Engles]

Dear Forum,


               I have two dumb problems to deal with.

              1) Bad fuel gauge problem.    The car has been sitting for three (!) years during an engine build with the tank drained.   Now that it is up and running the gauge has gone wonky.  It either reads empty or flashes back and forth from full to empty erratically.  

                  Is the gauge terminal?  

  


              2)  Bad starter problem.    The other car has a West Coast Starter (San Diego) circa 1997.   It always starts up at the first start of the day, but any re-start after that is a painfully slow "whrrr-pause-whrrrrrrr-pause-whrrr-pause-whrrr" etc. lasting a painful 10-20 secs before it starts.   Today, I came in from an errand and turned the car off and then immediately tried to re-start it.   Same thing.   

                 Is the starter bad?   It doesn't seem to be the battery.   This problem has been getting incrementally worse over the last year.  



                                If its not one thing-----its another,   Chuck Engles