Car is I Gen 1998 Skoda Felica 1.3 (43kw) GLX.

Speedometer sometimes fails to work completely, sometimes works, usually it doesn't follow after launching at the lights, but reports to duty some miles down the road, hodometer, however, appears to work ok and count distance fine.

Fuel gauge is a different beast, it dropped to zero (with low fuel light) while i had a half of tank left and has stayed there even after refueling to full (40l). Other systems appear to work completely fine, nothing to comment on.

What could be problematic places here? What to check?

Thanks,

Andrew.

Edited 21 April, 201115 yr by Guest

The speedo problem sounds like the drive gears inside the instrument are failing.

The fuel guage is probably completely unrelated beyond being in the same car. This sounds like the problem is with the sender unit inside the fuel tank, possibly the electical connection, possibly the variable resistor track that actually measures the fuel float position, and possibly a leaky float.

first thing, is change the clocks completely, there's a multitude of 1.3's down my local scrappy, 5 to be precise,

change um and see what happens.

though i think Ken is right on both counts, it the odometer is working then it's an issue with the speedo rather than anything else.

and the fuel gauge is certainly unrelated.

but i would change the clocks first.

Thanks for feedback.

Switching the clocks- are they usually sold in one peace- that are dials from engine temp to fuel gauge in one block or they can be swapped out separetely?

It isn`t the case of money (how much they can cost after all?!), but in terms of work hours and effort needed, however i had a lot of dead lights in the speedo area, so new dials couldn`t hurt.

Hence the reason for changing the clocks first; they're all mounted on a single pair of boards, and the speedo is more important, since it's illegal to drive a car without a working speedo.

If keeping the established mileage matters to you, keep the old clocks, take a photo of the new set, and if the scrappie gives you a receipt, ask him to record the mileage on that too.

The reason for saying I thought you'd a problem with the sender rather than the guage was so you'd not expect changing the clocks to fix it.

I tried tapping on the speedo while driving, and yes, that indeed worked, speedo popped up to right speed. So this confirms the problem with receiving part aka dials?

Yes; the tap shocks the needle pivot and reduces the friction, so the gears drive.