Hi All. OK, had some issues with my fuel gauge lying to me so replaced the sender unit in July. All went good (the gauge didn't quite go to the full line when I filled up but dropped smoothly). Over the weekend, I've noticed that within a 150k drive I went from 2/3rds full to just over a 1/4 full according to the gauge. There's no fuel leak I can see or smell, and the car is driving fine.

My question is; assuming the fuel sender hasn't crapped out in 4 months, is it possible the gauge has an issue as well?

I'm going to fill up tonight to ensure usage is OK (I should fill between 35 and 40 litres with the tripmeter being on or around 360km's when get to the petrol station on the way home), but I'm wondering if I should be thinking gauge replacement.

It's a little thing, but annoying. The other odd thing is the light behind the D on the instrument panel keeps stopping working. Will be on 1 day, not the next. It makes me wonder if the panel itself has an issue.

I also wish the gauge wouldn't show the state of the tank constantly - just invites theft.


Regards, Tony

Just ideas/opinions here....

Had the Fuel Tank Sender unit play up in my TJ Sports - had been fine, then got screwy quite suddenly. Rather than but new spare, I got the pick-up/sender-unit from a self-serve wrecker, and transplanted the sender-unit only into my car. Have had a good run so far - 9 months or more maybe. Did you buy new, or get something from a wreck? I'd expect a new part to give longer service, but if you got a wreck item you may have been unlucky to have it fail again.

Guage itself in the dash? Of course its possible it may fail, but word seems to be its fairly reliable (unlike it's sender-unit cousin!).

Drive indicator bulb? I'd pull the instrument cluster out and replace or check the bulb. Do a bit of CSI investigating first tho......

If you notice the "D" bulb has gone off, try pulling your car back a gear (dunno if you have tippy or conventional auto, but duzzant matter)... pull it back to 3rd or 2nd and see if those indicators are lit. Pull it through all gears, are the correct indicators lit? At what point when shifting does the indicator bulb change..... are the bulbs in dash changing approx when the gear-stick indicators in console are shifting to next gear? What I'm trying to get at is this........ Is it only the D bulb affected, is it a matter of poor contact or poor adjustment in the Inhibitor Switch (that's under the bonnet), is it perhaps a poor contact in Dash Cluster Loom connector(s) - in which case it may also affect behaviour of Fuel Guage.

If your testing seems to indicate a bulb problem, pull the dash cluster. Either buy a spare part bulb, raid a self-serve wrecker for the tiny bulb, or (as someone on these forums once made an excellent point) - why not swap the "L" gear indicator bulb for the "D" one - how much time do you drive manually-selected Low gear, and do you really need a dash bulb to tell you your in Low? While dash is out, try adding a bulb to the empty socket above Fuel Guage - you may get the Amazing-"Lights-On"-Green-Indicator-Light-In-Cluster MOD (I've done it in one car and plan to do my next. Word seems to be that Exec spec clusters don't have this capability).

Be careful pulling the Bezel from around the Cluster - I've snapped my KJ one in the middle above steering cover - its tiny hardly noticed fault but still a minor P***-off factor staring at it while driving!!

Check the state of the connectors where loom plugs into cluster. Look for obvious damage/deterioration of printed-circuit. Check for loose fuses or poor contact of fuses affecting dash or fuel guage. Put cluster and Bezel back in, carefully (think I broke mine during "reinstall" phase).

See how you go! One thing that annoyed me with Crappy Fuel-Sender was the way it affected Trip Computer - if ever I got a Low Fuel Warning Light (even if obviously false), my Trip Pooter always lost its 'range to Empty' reading, even if Fuel Guage then recovered itself (for however briefly).

Great answer - thanks! It is a new sender, bought it from Mitsi in May I think. I filled the car tonight took 41.08L which was slightly more than expected (too much little running around and being stuck in roadworks in the last week). The gauge goes up to where the needle is just touching the bottom of the Full line. I'm sure it used to go above the line.

Dash. Yep, just the D light, nothing else. It had been failed for a while (good 12 months), then it came back to life around a month ago, then died again over the weekend. I've still got to fit Poita's dash rings, good excuse to take it out. I'll replace all the bulbs in one go and see what happens.

Regards, Tony

More opinion.... but replacing all the bulbs would be overkill IMHO. The "D" bulb is gonna be lit 99% of your driving time, so its natural it'd be first to go. They are not cheap, if memory serves me correctly..... not sure if dealers I went to even stocked them (its been a while).

I know I have since raided self-serve wreckers to get a few spare bulbs - kept in empty 35mm film cannister in my tool bag in the boot... along with a few trim clips, spare fuses and other little bits.

Replacing every bulb cos one is blown/dicey is way over the top, IMHO.

Enjoy you dash rings - every pic I've seen in here looks very very NOICE - 3rd gen and 2nd gen.

I'm a definate fan of the thin polished rings - perhaps I'm biased cos I've gone with skinny stick-on Chrome here and there, plus I like just the Chrome Int Doof Handle trims against black cloth and black plastic door handles in my TJ (ie:surrounds only, not chrome handles plus chrome surrounds).