Fuel and temp gauge woes

[tdoughboy37]

Ok, I just finished my SHOwagon and the temp/fuel gauges are not working... at all. The donor car was a 92 mtx. The gauge cluster I used was from a 90 mtx, and don't have one from the 92. The only noticable difference I can see is the small circuit boards mounted in the plastic housing. The 90 has only one whereas the other one I have (from a 94 atx) has two, one on each side.

My question is, are these interchangeable and can I use/will the 94 atx gauge cluster work? Or can I simply swap in the circuit board from one to the other? Should there be two of the circuit boards there?

Thanks for any help....

 

[Phoenix]

If this is helpful to you , a Sable cluster (very similar to the SHO) has only one circuit board , but I dont have any idea if it works or not.

Just slam in a ATX or MTX SHO cluster and call it a day.

If your re-wirings are OK though.

 

[tdoughboy37]

All the wiring seems to be in order. I swapped in the dash with all wiring as well as all of the wiring in the engine bay.
The cluster I'm using now is out of a 90 mtx SHO. I will try the atx cluster I have and see if that solves the problem. I'm thinking that the 90 is not compatable with the 92 wiring.

 

[Phoenix]

All the wiring seems to be in order. I swapped in the dash with all wiring as well as all of the wiring in the engine bay.
The cluster I'm using now is out of a 90 mtx SHO. I will try the atx cluster I have and see if that solves the problem. I'm thinking that the 90 is not compatable with the 92 wiring.

Oh ok you swapped the whole thing , even in the interior....Alright.

I always thought all the 90-95 (SHOs) were swappable though...

If the probem persists , make sure the ground above the airbox is tight. Thats the ground for the temp gauge amongst other things.

 

[tdoughboy37]

LOL, been there, done that.... Couldnt get it to fire first try and went over Every ground wire. All were good.... except the one by the battery. I've learned to check and double check grounds whenever anything electrical happens with these cars

 

[tdoughboy37]

I replaced the instrument cluster with no luck..... The fuel gauge reads abo 16th tank of gas when off. When I turn the ke on, the pump primes and the needle drops to E and the temp gauge does nothing.

Any ideas????

 

[tdoughboy37]

Ok, after studying the wiring diagrams, I'm thinking it has to do with the O/Y wire somewhere between the cluster and the first junction of wires that come together. This IS a ground wire that is shared between temp/fuel gauge and sender, vaps, vss, & pcm. All others are working fine wich leads me to believe it's close to the instrument cluster (or at the cluster). I will report what I find out.

 

[Phoenix]

Ok, after studying the wiring diagrams, I'm thinking it has to do with the O/Y wire somewhere between the cluster and the first junction of wires that come together. This IS a ground wire that is shared between temp/fuel gauge and sender, vaps, vss, & pcm. All others are working fine wich leads me to believe it's close to the instrument cluster (or at the cluster). I will report what I find out.

Keep us posted. :thankyou:

 

[tdoughboy37]

Ok, Now I'm completely lost. I've ruled out the ground scenario. Does anyone have any other ideas?
The fuel pump works fine but the gauge does not. The temp gauge is always cold. I tried bypassing all of the connectors for o/y ground wires behind the cluster (tied into wires going into cluster) and at the passenger rear door. Still get nothing.

 

[tdoughboy37]

...Double checked to make sure power was going from the fuse block to the cluster for these specific gauges and verified the ground was good. I'm completely lost.

 

[tdoughboy37]

Does anybody have any ideas?