Thanks for all the help so far. Here is what Ive done. With the sender installed in the pan (cold) I checked with my ohm meter and have a reading (pegs about 3/4 on the ohm meter) between the sender wire and the ground. I took off the sender wire and there is a very low (just a slight bump of the needle) ohm signal between the wire connection and ground. When I use the heat gun to heat the sender the reading goes up so I assume the sender is not dead. I ran a seperate ground wire from one of the
oil pan bolts to the engine block and now have zero resistance from the pan to the chassis ground. My
oil pan was powder coated and with the gasket maybe there is too much resistance for a good ground. I'll give it a road test tomorrow and let you know what happens. Wish me luck.
Thanks,
John