£35 = 1/4 tank?? Please help!!

[darrenmr2]

VERY annoying problem! Basically broke my petrol needle fitting lockwood gauges...was supplied with a second hand gauge that i fitted 'carefully' this time lol.

After new gauge was fitted i set the needle at empty as i knew i had no fuel as my low light was on. Started car and the needle started moving DOWN till it was VERTICALLY down?! Tried moving the needle back to empty, but again it moved back to its vertical position!

Put £35 in and it moved up slowly to 1/4 tank!! (its almost like the gauge is about 1/4 tank out) This is the weird part though. Got to my car yeaterday morning to go to work and it was at half a tank (i hadnt moved it, and this is where the gauge should have been) Soon as i started the car it dropped to 1/4 tank. Ran around in it yesterday then went to work...came out and it was at 1/4?!! (which is where it should have been as i reckon i used 1/4 tank over the day) But again i started the car and it bloody moved to under the empty position again!

Its like its resetting itself correctly when the car is off, then as soon as it has power, its dropping!!

Only thing i did notice on the 2nd hand gauge was that it had a different 'code' on the side of it to the gauge i had broken

Please help!! Cheers in advance!

Darren

[darrenmr2]

Any ideas guy's?? When should I set the gauge? Power on? Or power off?? Or is it knackered?!

[Si_Crewe]

Well, I suppose you could drain all the fuel out of the tank then pour a gallon back in and set the needle so it's just off the empty mark.

I find that the needle takes about 5 minutes to stabilise after filling the car up so it's probably wise to leave any adjustments until at least half an hour after filling.

The needle doesn't move until the ignition is on so you'll need to turn the ignition on (and leave it on for a few minutes) before mucking about with the needle after changing the fuel load.

If the needle is jumping around it's likely that something is knackered.
It might be the gauge or the connector into the dash or the wiring or the sender in the tank.
All those things need checking if you're having issues with the gauge.

[Craigo]

yup, ignition needs to be on

[darrenmr2]

Thanks guys. I'll fill it up 2moro,drive the 20mins home from the petrol station,leave ignition on, THEN move the needle! Although I'm not hopeful! Will let you know the outcome!

[darrenmr2]

No good!!! £35 in,left it a good 20min till I got home and it was sitting at 1/4 tank..left ignition on (car running) and moved the gauge to just over 1/2 tank. And sure enough it dropped back down to 1/4 tank!! So that's obviously where it 'thinks' it needs to be!

But like I said I can bet after the car has been left till morning the gauge will be at half again?! Stuck now,anymore ideas?!

[mikey2]

When you moved the needle, did you actually pull the needle off the pin and replace it? sorry if its a daft question.
If so, and the guage is moving back down the same position no matter when you put the needle back on then the guage is dead.
How did you break the old one? is it just the needle you broke, or the pin out of the guage internals.

[Meko]

i managed to do the same thing when i had my Supra.

Take the panel back out again and start the ignition and see what happens; when it happened for me it seemed to be shorting out on the metal behind where the dials go. Because i ran out of patience putting it in and out and catching the horn, i just ended up sticking a rag behind it to stop it shorting out.

[mikey2]

Meko, i was wondering how long till we met on here!
As far as i remember, the guage is a built in thing, the connections are within the outer casing, with the main connections coming in in one block and then out like a printed board type arrangement.
If the OP is just pushing the needle round, then of course it wont stay, you need to pull the needle off, carefully, and put it back on.
Do this with the car nearly empty, then you can put the needle back on in the right palce.
If you still have dramas, then take the needle off that guage and put it on your old one.

Mike R

[darrenmr2]

Can the needle be removed?? Like 100%?? As I snapped the old one off from the inside being too heavy handed (snapped the pin that the needle attachs to, inside the mechanism) if it can be removed I'll try that,only thing I'm worried about is that the gauge moves up to half a tank when ignition is off (usually overnight) which is where I try to set it at,but then drops down to 1/4 tank!! Think I'll try another gauge. Guy I got this one from has offered me another one!

[mikey2]

try another guage mate, the needles do come off, best way is 2 teaspoons under the flange and pop it up. carefully.