I currently have the Huge fuel gauge. It's all fuked up; When I turn the car off the needle goes all the way clockwise till it gets to (if it was a clock 4:00). It goesn't read Accurate. If it says 1/4 of a tank and I fill it up with 10 bux (12 Liters, the tank is 60~L) it will go up to 3/4 of a tank.

When I accerate or stop the needle will move up/down 1/4 - 3/8 of a tank. And the base of the needle is broken.(on the black thing pieces broke off)


Down to the point:
They have a 1986 Firebird at the wreckers with complete gauges.
It also has a 2.8L. Its basically the same car as mine. They want 35 Canadian for a gauge... Kinda steap but their arnt many wreckers around here.

I was woundering what All I need just to put that one Gas/(temp??) gauge into the spot where the huge gas gauge is in now.

I know I will probally have to re-wire stuff. It doesn't matter if the temp(or whatever the other gauge is) doesn't work.

Thanks

 

I'm not TomP, but it sounds to me like you should buy that whole gauge cluster and install it in your car; might be alot easier.

 

I would but They would want too much money for it, they want 35 bux for one fukin gauge!

EDIT - The reason why I am askin TomP is because he did the swap over from the 2 gauges to a full gauge cluster. So he probally knows...

 

Actually I didn't do any gauge swapping, I just pulled that full gauges dash from a junkyard car to have, "just in case". But sounds to me more like your fuel level sender (inside the tank) is shot. You said the needle is pointing to way past full, like, Super-filled? That usually indicates a busted sender. If you go up/down a hill, does the fuel gauge still stay pinned?

GM was using a stainless steel resistance wire, and the fuel float lever will wear thru the wire. Supposedly later model GM cars used a carbon fiber resistance wire that doesn't wear out. A new sender is $300 US from GM. Reason is because you're not just buying the sender-- you're also buying a hanger for a fuel pump, it's a complete assembly. My gauge did this for a while, then, thank my wallet, it stopped, and went back to normal. I was told that I could either get a sender from a junkyard car, or, I could go after an early 90's GM car, any of 'em, and just take the little resistance wire off that tank, since it'd be carbon fiber, and somehow put it onto my fuel level sender. (A ton of work) Luckily I didn't ever have to figure it out.

[edit] Oh, wait, when you turn the car off, that's when the fuel gauge goes to "super filled"? Maybe it is the gauge! The fuel sender gives a resistance between 0 and 90 ohms, depending on how full the tank is. I wonder if you could tap into that wire with a multimeter to see what it really says, and compare that with what your gauge says. I don't really know how hard it'd be to just change the gauge. Maybe you could look on eBay or the classifieds here at thirdgen.org ... someone must've converted to a full gauges dash and wouldn't mind selling their whole idiot-light dash for you to take apart.

 

When I go up a hill it moves, and going down. It also moves when I brake.
Yes, when I turn my car off it goes to Super-Filled. (goes to where it says the gas is at when the ign is turned on..)
I think its cause I broke part of the black piece off the needle . I will try to tap into that wire tommorow with a multi-meter. I need to go buy one but i'll need it again oneday.
I'm gonna go to classifields and see if anyone is selling something for cheap, I'd rather buy from somone here than from the autowreckers around me.
That reminds me of something. I went to '5 Mile' Auto wreckers the other day; I asked if they had a gauge for the car: some old guy was like "Ya, we probally do; but I aint getting nothing off cars today". Then they wounder why they dont get business lol.

 

try car-part.com


If you walk in and say their not going to fetch parts for you (their job), I would never return again, and make a promise to pass that comment/word on.


Word of the mouth is a m/f!!!

 

OK...to answer your question about the guages....if you replace the guage in your cluster with another large fuel guage out of an 82-89 camaro, its no problem. Just take the black bezel plate off its held on by 8 (i think) torx screws. under it is the clear plate which is held on by 6 or 8 more screws, these are metric hex head. once that is off there is a black metal plate that will just pull/fall off careful you dont loose your little green turn signal lenses, the stick in to the back of the metal plate. next the guage should be held in by 2 or 3 hex head screws, take those out and then gently pull the guage out of the cluster. on the back of the guage there are som metal posts, inside the cluster are some metal sockets, the guage plugs into those, insert the new guage, make sure you line up the posts with the slots, and line up the screw holes, push it in gently put firmly and then screw itall back together

look on ebay for guages...see em all the time, or contact thirdgenparts.com I'm sure they have em or can get em, they're reasonable and will ship to canada.

 

heh, thanks but I have a bird

 

and again

The principle is the same, just put together different, actually I think the firebird cluster is easier to take out, at least the one that I worked on. I don't know if the guages plug and play like the camaros though, cant remember the set up. Tom? can ya shed any light here?

 

The bird gauges just' plug into a socket.