33 replies to this topic

[stevelane]

Where do I go to on the back of the guage? The green/black wire finishes at the back of the connecter with all the other wires, do I need to get to a piece of bare wire or bypass this and go straight onto the printed circuit board?

[ibrooks]

Where do I go to on the back of the guage? The green/black wire finishes at the back of the connecter with all the other wires, do I need to get to a piece of bare wire or bypass this and go straight onto the printed circuit board?

To do what?

 

Have you measured the resistance of the green and black wire? Pull one end off the sender in the boot and attach one probe of your multi-meter to it. Pull the multi-plug out of the back of the gauges and stick the other probe on the contact that the green and black wire goes to. What is the reading?

 

If it's close to zero.

 

Keep one probe on the green and black wire on the plug and connect the second one to a good earth and reconnect the green and black wire to the sender (and the black one if it's not still on) - now move the sender arm from one extreme to the other. What range of values do you see?

 

It's very difficult to help you if you don't do the tests we ask you to - you seem to keep going off at a tangent and confusing the issue with other random information.

 

Iain

[stevelane]

Where do I go to on the back of the guage? The green/black wire finishes at the back of the connecter with all the other wires, do I need to get to a piece of bare wire or bypass this and go straight onto the printed circuit board?

To do what?
 
Have you measured the resistance of the green and black wire? Pull one end off the sender in the boot and attach one probe of your multi-meter to it. Pull the multi-plug out of the back of the gauges and stick the other probe on the contact that the green and black wire goes to. What is the reading?
 
If it's close to zero.
 
Keep one probe on the green and black wire on the plug and connect the second one to a good earth and reconnect the green and black wire to the sender (and the black one if it's not still on) - now move the sender arm from one extreme to the other. What range of values do you see?
 
It's very difficult to help you if you don't do the tests we ask you to - you seem to keep going off at a tangent and confusing the issue with other random information.
 
Iain

How am I going off at a tangent? Two people advised me to do a resistance test at each end of the green/black wire and I was asking where is the best place to do this at the gauge end

[dklawson]

Sorry Lain.  I have the advantage of having followed Steve's work in his previous thread trying to sort this out.  He has already done the tests you suggested regarding connecting the green/black to earth and also experimenting with the sending unit.  The discussion here may sound a bit disjointed because some of the information comes from the other thread.

http://www.theminifo...age-stabiliser/

 

Steve, as Lain suggested, disconnect the plug from the gauge cluster and use your meter (with help) to measure from one end of the green/black wire in the boot to the plug at the gauge cluster. 

[stevelane]

Reading back my last message, sorry if it came across stroppy, wasn't meant like that at all, just didn't understand.

My multimeter isn't going to reach from one to the other so I'm presuming I'm going to have to add some sort of extension. Excuse my ignorance but will this not add resistance and give me an unclear reading?

[dklawson]

Yes, the added extension wire will add to the overall resistance.  However, you can easily compenate for it.

 

Go back to the first page of this thread and read over posts #14 and #15.  In those posts Kernow and I explained how to hold the multimeter probes together, write down the resistance value displayed, and subtract that value from the wire resistance you measured.  If you need to add an additional piece of extension wire to measure the resistance of the green/black wire from end-to-end you only need to expand the methods discussed replies #14 and #15 a bit.

 

Determine the length of additional wire you will need to measure the resistance of the green/black wire from end-to-end.  Strip both ends of that additional wire.  Connect one end of that wire to one of the meter probes (either one).  Wrap it securely around the probe tip and tape it in place.  Set the multimeter to measure Ohms and hold the other end of the wire to the remaining meter probe tip.  Once the reading stabilizes, write down the resistance value displayed by the multipmeter.  That value is the combined resistance of the meter probes and the additional length of extnesion wire. 

 

Leave the extension wire taped to the meter probe tip.  Connect the other end of the extension wire to one end of the green/black wire on the car and the remaining meter probe tip to the other end of the green/black wire.  Wait for the reading to stabilize and write down the value the meter displays.  Subtract the measurement you made in the paragraph above (combined meter probe and extension wire resistance) from the value you found measuring the green/black wire end-to-end.  The remainder will be just the resistance of the green/black wire.

[stevelane]

Thanks. I think I will print out the whole thread, find it easier to retain info when it's a hard copy rather than keep trying to read it on my phone, maybe I'm just getting old

[tiger99]

You are unlikely you have more than one ohm in your extension wire anyway, and 1 ohm is irrelevant here. The problem is much bigger, in terms of ohms, if indeed there is a problem in the wire, which I doubt very much. The problem, as already said, will be at one or both ends.

[stevelane]

Ok. So the plan tonight is to check both of these things. The resistance and go back to the bullet connectors etc

Thanks for everyone's help, I really do appreciate it, I will let you know the results when I get home, having a job is really getting in the way of this hobby ;)

[stevelane]

So just got home and checked the wire using the methods stated, with the prongs together I got a zero reading, with the extender wire I got a zero reading, as soon as I connected the wire to the back connecter behind the gauge I just got "O.L" on the display, not the zero that was expected.

I'm presuming this means no continuity so I will move on to the connections but I will be damned if I can budge the bullet connection at all

[KernowCooper]

Your meter reading means its Outside Limits of the range selected in ohms, do you have different setting in ohms on the multimeter or just the one?

 

have you a jumper wire long enough to connect the the tank unit and run into the car and connect directly to the gauge connection, and then watch the reading on the gauge. I'm with tiger as I don't think its a damaged wire in the front dash to rear, its far more likely to be a connection in my experience, but bringing in a slave wire from front to tank as I described above will be a quick test to prove the point.

[stevelane]

I have wire long enough to do it but am a little unsure where I need to connect it to at the back of the cluster

[KernowCooper]

I dont have my manual here but what is the colour of the wire on the centre of the sender unit? find the same colour on the back of the connnector on the rear of the dash.

[stevelane]

The wire is black/green and I can see going into the connecter along with the other wires that then goes into the back of the cluster but can't see how I can connect a wire into that connecter, it looks pretty sealed

[dklawson]

Tiger and Kernow will probably cringe at what I am about to suggest but....

 

Locate that green/black wire at the gauge connector.  Take your temporary wire and run a straight pin through it and then through the green/black wire so the two wires are pinned together.  Wrap the pinned area with a towel or tape so the pin stays in place and so the pin cannot touch earth.  Then connect the other end of the new wire to the insulated sending unit terminal.  As long as there is not a short circuit along the length of the green/black wire this will tell you if the problem is a brake or damaged connector between the gauge and the back of the car.

 

I believe I mentioned earlier (as Tiger and Kernow did above) that it is more likely that you find it is something like a corroded connector on the green/black wire at the tank.  In one of my previous posts I know I mentioned replacing terminals in place of pulling a new wire.