Fitted Mondeo Mk 2 clocks but fuel gauge not working at all

[CamperVanBeethoven]

Hi,

Fitted Mondeo Mk2 clocks, and a rev counter and everything works fine now. Apart from the fuel gauge.

It's not that it's reading backwards; it seems dead as a dodo. I filled it up with fuel and it doesn't move. All tracks on the PCB seem fine.

Anyone got any ideas?

[CamperVanBeethoven]

OK so I did some more research, and found out some things about the whole set up..

Fuel sender either increases or decreases resistance as the fuel level goes up. Which one is it for a Mk5 diesel sender unit?
Is it low resistance at full, or high resistance?
What is the expected resistance range of the sender unit?
Is there any way to test the gauge on its own? I had a look at it and I have no idea how it works. The speedo gets the fuel sender values in and drives the fuel gauge as well as the 'low fuel' light. But how does it move the gauge? There are three connections. Is it just a ground and then it applies a signal either side (probably pulses) to drive it up or down until it's in the right place?

Problem is now that I went and filled it up I'll need to drive it for about 300 miles before I can discover if the low fuel warning light works. It would be interesting to know if that works independent of the gauge. It would also kinda point towards it being the gauge if the low fuel warning still works.

If I knew things like expected resistance values I could perhaps do some experimentation.

[Keef]

The info is all on here if you search hard enough

Once you have fitted the mondeo clocks, if you find that the fuel gauge is reversed then the simplest solution is to replace your fuel sender, located in the top of the fuel tank.

If you have the post 97 transit, the fuel sender will have a part number starting 97VB, you will need the earlier fuel sender from a pre-97 transit, (one that is fitted with cable speedo), this will bear a 95VB part number. Once you fit this in place of the 97 part your fuel gauge will be 're-reversed' and read correctly.

The part number on the fuel sender is visible on the resistor 'pick-up', carfully remove the white plastic cover to reveal the part number printed on the resistor, this way you can check that the part is the one you require before purchasing from the breakers yard

Hope this helps mate, but should you have difficulty getting the conversion to work then you would be welcome to pop around to our works for assistance/advice, we are in Medway Towns.

TIM

[CamperVanBeethoven]

No, it's not reversed. It's not moving at all.

[CamperVanBeethoven]

Hurrah!

After having established there was slight - if very erratic - movement, sometimes, I eventually found the problem.

The plastic shaft of the indicator needle is cracked and not gripping properly. And then to make it worse it looks like someone, in the past, tried to oil it to fix the fact it wasn't moving properly. Making it worse.

Swapped over the needle from the old fuel gauge. Service is back to normal.

That one had me baffled for a bit :/