fuel gauge stopped working

Hi all,

Just wondering if you can help with a small problem with my fuel gauge.

I know it’s an electrical issue from behind the dashboard but not sure exactly what

Basically the gauge has stopped working. Ever now and then it used to just stop working but was back up and running again after I put my hand in the gap where the steering column is and give the wires a little giggle.

Anyway im taking the dash out and need to have a little look around and replace some bulbs anyway so I was hoping if someone could point me in the right direction into telling me which wire will come from the fuel tank.

Just so I can take a proper look into it and get it up and running. Its not really been an issue as I live close to work and basically know how much fuel I use so I just keep topping it all like normal but im moving at the weekend and the distance is over double so need to get it fixed really. Im hoping the wire has just come out of something.

Thanks dan

its purple/black, by the sounds of it the pcb is worn on the clock plug ot the pins in the socket are a bit bent and need a tweak

thanks for the reply. my clock is a bit aswell as the hour never keeps time but the minutes always work (ive checked and there are no battery or earthing issues) so what tweeks would i need to do. is it a case of having the clocks out and making sure that the pics are all straight and ok.

yeah remove the clocks and look at the pcb in the socket, check for worn pads. look at all the pins too make sure they're nice and straight and not squished.

with the minutes i would check your battery, our old citroen ax did the same thing and i tore my hair out trying to fix it. eventually the battery packed in and a new one sorted it all out! the odd thing was while the clock lost minutes overnight it still fired up fine in the morning for months before it eventually packed in completly

hello,

thanks for all the help i had a look at the wiring and couldnt see any issues. what i did notice is that the fuel wires in the plug do seem to wobble around a lot and what im thinking is happenning is when driving around the wires moving off the vdo board so its not reading any volts which is where im getting the sometimes work thing from.

i was messing around and put all the dash back together and all seems to work, untill my lunch time the gauge now has stopped working.

im wondering if i need to try and take the wire on a bit so it doesnt move around in the little block.

what i wanted to ask is there an easier way to get to this wiring without taking the dash off. its such a pain for a few second job. can i go from underneath or take the near bar off and just unclick it.

some help would be great

trouble is you have a cab, and they have the knee bar in the way so it makes it that much harder to reach, i dont think you'll get enough slack on dash plug to gain access to it comfortably.   The bar is bolted on at the A pillar either side so you could remove it, but i dont know if it would actually be any easier than taking the clocks out every time

hi all I'm having the same problem on my mk1 caddy my fuel gauge and temp gauge not working..

iv tested the fuel sender with a bulb and that's working fine and iv probed my gauge with a live wire and ty are going up to full
so I tested wiring and that seems fine
it seems like I'm missing a ignition live or something


can any 1 help
thanx
bob

harper29 said

hi all I'm having the same problem on my mk1 caddy my fuel gauge and temp gauge not working..

iv tested the fuel sender with a bulb and that's working fine and iv probed my gauge with a live wire and ty are going up to full
so I tested wiring and that seems fine
it seems like I'm missing a ignition live or something


can any 1 help
thanx
bob

That is usually the 10V stabilizer that is flakey or having an issue.

At the rear of the cluster is a 3 legged semi-conductor. That is the 10V stabilizer.  The Center leg is ground, the others are 12v in from the black pin on the cluster conector, and the other is 10V.

So take your Fascia out, and lower the cluster so that you can measure the voltages on the legs.


The 10V stabilizer is a KA7810-ate which sells for a less than a dollar each at www.mouser.com or you can get it from a dealer or vendor for 25-45usd.

They sell them at the good electronics stores.
Measure your stabilizer first as it may be that you have a broken circuit board, and in the Archive section I have a how to back-feed the 10V stabilizer thread link.

The Fuel and Water gauges use the 10V stabilized voltage to detect varying resistance from the senders.
The Gauges themselves can be flaky and I have a fix for those in the archive as well.  But both flaky point to the 10V stabilizer or the power ground or 10v leg being flaky.

Thanks braino it was that stabiliser on the back of the clocks all sorted now cheers mate 👌👌👍👍👍