Well, I did put the test light on it and it blinked - like a flasher. I took this as a good sign. A while back I installed a new sender and the gauge still didn't work and I grounded the wire and still nothing. So after checking other things - the flashing IVR, etc., I checked continuity of the wire back to the sender and it turned out to be a bad connector at the sender. I redid the connector to a little spade type and now the gauge works. (I'm probably still going to carry an empty gas can in the trunk though.)
37Mark - that's a great article.
gasman - that's exactly what it did. I at first thought I had a bad connection with my test light. I was expecting dimness instead of a pulse.
PSIG - that's also a great article.
Thanks gents.