Thread: Fuel and temp gauge not the best..........

Voltage stabilizer. Fuel level, water temp and oil pressure all receive power thru said device. If it's earth is playing up (Loose connection) or the damaged alternator threw off a spike ( damaged it) that would explain the problems you've described. All three circuits run on variable resistance to ground - attaching the positive from the battery won't do anything ( except in the case of the fuel tank bad things). To check the fuel sender, use a multimeter - it's resistance varies between zero and 90 ohms ( full zero, empty 90). Ditto for the oil pressure and temp ( Don't know the ranges - it varies)
The voltage stabilizer should be mounted to the brace directly under the instrument binnacle. It's a rectangular metal can with ( I think) with a green wire (Feed 12v), light green wire (stabilized power) and maybe a black wire (earth)

Nomad,

I had a similar problem in my 88 RRC.

There was a thread / article somewhere on the net (not real specific I know - sorry about that!) that described similar symptoms & an easy fix.

It was a long time ago now, but if I remember correctly, as my temprature gauge went up, my fuel gauge went down, so in order to keep my tank full, all I had to do was keep my engine teprature down ! - cheap motoring!


Seriously though, the fix for me was something as simple as removing the instrument binacle & cleaning the circuit board with a soft toothbrush & some Electrical contact cleaner - let to dry & a quick brush off with a soft dry & clean tooth brush.

The problem never re-occured.

As far as the article on this subject goes, it my have been from "the Range Rover Pages" or similar title.

Worth a look anyway - good luck

Originally Posted by 4range

Nomad,

I had a similar problem in my 88 RRC.

There was a thread / article somewhere on the net (not real specific I know - sorry about that!) that described similar symptoms & an easy fix.

It was a long time ago now, but if I remember correctly, as my temprature gauge went up, my fuel gauge went down, so in order to keep my tank full, all I had to do was keep my engine teprature down ! - cheap motoring!


Seriously though, the fix for me was something as simple as removing the instrument binacle & cleaning the circuit board with a soft toothbrush & some Electrical contact cleaner - let to dry & a quick brush off with a soft dry & clean tooth brush.

The problem never re-occured.

As far as the article on this subject goes, it my have been from "the Range Rover Pages" or similar title.

Worth a look anyway - good luck

I had a 1974 2 door last year and had the same issues. I also pulled the dash pod off and cleaned all connections and the problem was solved I also googled the Ohms that the guage is meant to read on my multi meter and removed the fuel sender and checked the ohms from empty to full.
Sorry I cannot remember what the ohms are meant to be but it is a fantastic way to test the sender and guage for perfect accuracy.

PS If you do some research you will find the ohms settings on a range rover info site like this one below.

Land Rover Technical Information Tips - Range Rover Parts & Accessories | Discovery Parts Defender

I hope you get to the bottom of this problem as I know I like my fuel guage to be spot on.

Cheers

Hi Langy and others,
Great responses guys, you mention the voltage stabiliser is under the instrument binnacle, I know what one looks like but I can't find one. I'm assuming you meant under the dash behind the cover, I've attached a couple of photos to show what I have, if you can (or anyone else for that matter) point me in the right direction of where the voltage stabiliser unit is that would be a great help.
I'm going to take the instrument cluster out and clean all the connections as well. Seeing the alternator did die I suspect that this stabiliser unit might be the issue if I ever find it.
Again thanks for the information, just fantastic.....

[QUOTE=Nomad9;1532505]'m going to take the instrument cluster out, QUOTE]

When you have it out it will be found in the back of , it`s also refered to as multifunction unit .

Hi PLR,
I see you are still logged on, is this the unit you are talking about? The orange "bit" has a loose leg, I'm assuming that both should be attached to the circuit board, this could well be the problem if this is the multi function unit.
Thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by Nomad9

Hi PLR,
I see you are still logged on, is this the unit you are talking about? The orange "bit" has a loose leg, I'm assuming that both should be attached to the circuit board, this could well be the problem if this is the multi function unit.
Thanks for the help.

Yes That is it....... the orange part is a capacitor and yes both legs should be solderd to the board..so thats the first thing to solder up.The voltage regulator should get 12- 15 volts in and a constant 10v out so it dosent matter if the volts go high or low(within reason) 10v will always be on the gauges so they remain stable at all times.
Brad

Hi Forumites,
So I've now cleaned the contacts and replaced the voltage stabiliser, I have the radiator out at the moment so I've only run the engine for maybe sixty seconds tops. The fuel gauge does appear to have moved slightly further into the red zone, I know these fuel gauges are slow at the best of times so you never know, might be fixed, I would expect the gauge to move quicker with over half a tank of fuel in it.
Obviously the temp gauge won't move so when the radiator arrives, when TNT do their bit which is quite woeful at this moment. Today is the third attempt at trying to get them to drop the radiator off............waiting............waiting.
Any other bright ideas to try whilst I'm waiting?