The fuel gauge and temperature gauge on my 1984 Capri 2.8i are being perverse -- jointly. They are on the right-hand side of the dial cluster; they register maximum unpredictably, when I know there's not much fuel in the tank and that the engine temperature is normal. The battery and oil-pressure gauges on the left-hand side of the main dials (rev counter and speedometer) appear to work normally, as do the main dials themselves.
There's no predicting this problem: sometimes they indicate sensible levels on start-up and then go doolally during the journey, usually returning to normal behaviour at some point thereafter; at other times they are wrong at the start and then adjust later, the adjustment being gradual rather than sudden. The deviation from normal always happens to them both at the same time.
Any clues, anyone?
|
|
There's most likely a bad connection to the guage. I have the same problem with the fuel-guage on my Escort atm: it shoots up when you start it and it's been in the sun. I rekon that's due to when I took the dash apart last month and didn't push the guage pins back into the PCB properly.
|
|
|
|
Very possibly a bad earth to the instrument panel. If you have a metal-backed instrument panel, run a new earth wire from it to a good grounding point.
|
|
It's unlikely that both the gauges have gone bad at exatly the same time, which suggests a common fault - hence the earthing suggestion!
|
|
It may well be the voltage regulator playing up. It's a small metal box mounted on the back of the instrument panel, about 1/2" by 1". It's a simple bi-metallic strip inside, and they sometimes stick. Used to be around £4.00.
|
|
|
These gauges use a voltage stabliser to control the voltage to 10volts irrespective of battery voltage.The device clips into the back of instrument cluster & is basically a bi-metal strip
& contacts enclosed in a metal capsule.
|
|
This regulater provides an average voltage of about 10 volts but if you measure it it turns on and off and the average of the mark space ratios is about 10 volts. This was an old design and relies on the hot wire instruments damping the mark space ration. Fir a new regulator and try it. Lucas part still available I guess they may have even gone solid state. Regards Peter
|
Yes, I can confirm, the problem is definitely with the voltage regulator.
The gauges in my Capri used to do exactly the same thing, especially in hot weather!
|
|
Thanks very much for the helpful responses. Is the voltage regulator easy to get at?
|
Roger,
In a word, NO!
It's mounted on the rear of the instrument cluster. You will either have to remove the instrument cluster completely, or, it might be possible to do it by removing the lower trim panels and working upwards with a light and a mirror. It looks like a small rectangular metal box with a wire coming out of it.
I'm afraid that I never got around to fixing mine, I just learned to live with the problem of the temp and fuel gauges having minds of their own sometimes! Didn't happen very often, though.
Good Luck,
Galaxy
|
|
Thanks, Galaxy. Waddayaknow: ever since posting the query, the gauges have behaved normally.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Roger
Definitely the gauge voltage regulator, which is a very simple bimetallic on-off system. My experience of Fords of this era is that gauges sometimes playing up in this way is more a feature than a fault!
Regards
John S
|
|
|
