Fuel gauge not working !

[ronypony]

Just today my fuel gauge started playing up...just wondered if anyone else has experienced similar problems and can give me a quick solution.
Symptoms are needle of gauge goes completely in the opposite direction i.e. lies at the bottom of the gauge and stays there even with ignition switched off and key removed :?

There is some fuel in the tank :smile:

I admit I have not looked at anything yet...

Thanks

 

[rossco]

First thing would be to check your fuses for a starting point. :wink:

 

[andrewk]

I once had a car that leaked a little water into the boot. The fuel gauge sender unit was wet and corrosion had shorted the contacts. A quick clean with a wire brush and it was working again.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[ronypony]

Thank s fellas...well it aint the fuse..its fine..

The gauge has developed a life of its own...works sometimes dont at others...

I have had the instrument pod out recently to replace blown bulbs...I suppose it could be one of the two small multiplugs on the back of the pod not seated properly after being disturbed by me....

I think the more likely culpit is the electrical connections on the sender unit in tank...according to the Terrano manual (I have a Mav) there is an inspection panel to get to the sender unit under the carpet in rear of truck...hope to find the time to have a look over the weekend...

 

[ronypony]

Found inspection panel where it should be under carpet at rear of vehicle.
Simply remove the plastic kick strip at the edge of 'boot' compartment..its held in by 5 phillips screws...this then allows you to carefully pull carpet from under side trim to expose the fuel sender inspection panel.

Sheesh the muck that had gathered around the sender over the last 12 years was considerable...scrapped a lot of it off with flat bladed screw driver..then copious spraying off engine cleaner got the rest off. This allowed me to unclip the electrical connection which was pretty mucky inside the plastic housing of the socket....doused it in WD40.

When the connector was unplugged I checked gauge and sure enough the needle was at bottom of gauge as you would expect when the sender isn't getting power...as soon as I plugged up the connector the needle of gauge climbed to indicate volume of fuel in tank....

When I turn off ignition and remove key the needle remains in the same position indicating approximate volume of fuel in tank...is this normal..I would have thought that when ignition was turned off power to the sender would be cut and needle would fall to bottom of gauge...but as I say it doesn't..

Can anyone do me a favour and check their fuel gauge with ignition off to see if it registers like mine does :?

Thank you

Mike

 

[mav]

Hello Ronypony,
My old Mavericks stayed where it was after turning the ignition off.
So i think i would say its normal.

Mav.

 

[ronypony]

Thanks Mav...much appreciated :smile:

 

[ronypony]

Just an update on this thread...having removed the sender inspection panel and cleaned up the plug as well as removing the instrument pod and checking on the multiplug I thought controlled the fuel gauge the gauge still continued to be very erratic.

When the gauge was malfuctioning (needle at the bottom) I removed the instrument pod yet again....there are actually 3 small multiplugs at the back of the gauge pod. There was one that I had not 'fiddled' with...this of course was the offending multiplug....unplugged it and plugged it back up...gauge jumped into life and began to climb...been fine for hours now...hope thats it sorted... :smile: