M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS

DISCUSSION => Electrical => Topic started by: keflaman on January 16, 2009, 02:29:21 PM

Title: Dead Fuel Gauge...And MPG...And Then Temp...
Post by: keflaman on January 16, 2009, 02:29:21 PM

My fuel gauge would suddenly go dead, but by pushing on the back of the cluster I could get it to function again. This has happened on and off since summer and I've taken the cluster out a few times, tightened the ground nut or re-flowed the solder connection. It never seems to permanently fix the problem.

The problem got worse, so I pulled the cluster to check all the traces and connections and see if I had missed anything the other times I did this.

This time I used a magnifying glass and was able to see the broken solder connections for the large resister to the fuel gauge were broken. (http://www.m42club.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=38&pictureid=210)

 
(http://www.m42club.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=38&pictureid=211)

The circles show the solder joints to pay close attention to. If you can see an "inner circle" within the solder joint, that's a sure clue to a loose connection. The arrows indicate the sockets where the fuel guage plugs into. I re-flowed the solder points and it works like a champ now.

Except after assembly I discovered the MPG and temp gauge were intermittent and/or way off. I pulled the Service Indicator board out to install new batteries and discovered broken traces caused by using screws in the lower lip of the instrument cluster trim that were too long. Needless to say, I repaired the broken traces and everything seems to work okay...at this time.
(http://www.m42club.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=38&pictureid=213)
(http://www.m42club.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=38&pictureid=215)

Title: Dead Fuel Gauge
Post by: keflaman on February 02, 2009, 04:28:39 PM

I've added pictures and new information that I think may provide significant help to those experiencing gauge problems.

Title: Dead Fuel Gauge
Post by: ak96ss on February 02, 2009, 04:31:20 PM

Great, thanks much!

Title: Dead Fuel Gauge
Post by: carlos318is on February 03, 2009, 06:46:34 AM

I will have a look at mine in the week and see if I can fix mine as all the clocks are going dead when they feel like it

Title: Dead Fuel Gauge
Post by: sammy on September 26, 2009, 01:57:38 PM

Hi all  

My dials have recently been playing up, fuel guage in particular jumping to full tank and then back normal level but more recently all of the guages exept the speedometer do not work.  

I have stripped the cluster to get at the SI board but the batteries still show 3 volts on the multimeter. Do they still need replacing? i havent examined the circuits yet but i presume theyre ok as i removed it very carefully.    

Also my heater fans do not work anymore. Could this have anything to do with it?

Thanks in advance