Morning

 

About two months ago, I started our car up and the fuel gauge lit up as normal. After thirty seconds, the gauge went to zero, accompanied by the 'ping' from the fuel warning. An engine restart didn't fix this problem so I drove home and after about five minutes everything comeback to normal.

 

Since then, we've noticed the needle occasionally drifting downwards, accompanied by a reduction in the 'miles to zero' display - it then comes back to normal at some unpredictable point on the journey. The gauge is always either correct or under-reading so we have been using the trip counter as a back-up fuel gauge. 

 

I can't associate this with temperature, style of driving, brand of fuel etc etc.

 

My garage, that I trust, has scanned and not found anything. They spent an hour looking at wiring etc and couldn't replicate the fault. 

 

We drove 600 spirited miles in Northumberland last week and the problem - I think - appears to not be there anymore, although it has always been intermittent and therefore, presumably electrical.

 

The garage suggested that watching and waiting was probably the best thing to do rather than replacing the two fuel senders or the gauge - so that's what I am going to do.

 

But I wondered if anyone had any ideas as to what this could be?

 

Thanks for any help...

You would assume a faulty fuel sender, but hopefully you have more luck than this guy...

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/242583-wandering-fuel-gauge/?hl=%2Bfaulty+%2Bfuel+%2Bgauge#entry3024430

Hmmm. All the more reason to watch and wait, I suppose...

Yeah, it seems the sort of fault that could end up resulting in throwing good money after bad.

 

Its a shame the guy on the above thread didn't come back with the final result.

just bumped him-----I suspect the terminals from the two wires where they pug onto the sender rheostat? board  this summer I am going to try solder paste once it warms up a bit  :sun: 

A little update on this...

 

So the problem does continue to develop and the gauge seems to behave worse as the fuel level decreases.

 

However, I have had the car into two different independent garages that I have confidence in - including in matters electrical. They have both tested the fuel senders, wiring, harnesses etc and confirmed that all of that is behaving OK. The second garage had the opportunity to look at the car whilst the gauge was misbehaving properly. He discovered that a light tap to a certain part of the dashboard above the instrument cluster caused the gauge to alter - he advised me that the cluster was the guilty party and suggested that he take it out and courier it to one of the many electronic component repairers that exist around the country.

 

Three days later, the cluster has come back with a note that says:

 

"Dear Customer

 

We have checked your part on the mentioned complaints. Unfortunately we were unable to reproduce the complaints. Attention: This does not guarantee that the part is not broken!"

 

Fair enough. The cluster is back in - I have only been charged for postage and a small amount of labour for removing and refitting it, plus the diagnostic time before this.

 

The electronic company are wondering if 'connections' were to blame.

 

The gauge appears to be behaving properly at the moment (only 20 miles driven so far). It may be that the problem doesn't come back or it may be that it does.

 

If it does, I think my options are:

 

1. Live with it.

 

2. Take it to one of the two local Skoda dealers who suggested that a replacement cluster (£640) plus labour (£300) is what is required. Which presumably may or may not cure this intermittent problem...

 

3. Start looking for another car!

 

What would the wise members of this forum do if the problem comes back? Does anyone have any other thoughts?

 

Many thanks as always...

 

 

The gauge relies on an electronic voltage regulator that is supposed to put out a steady fixed reference voltage. If this is playing up it could cause these symptoms. No idea where it is on the Octavia, but most cars have it soldered onto the cluster printed circuit board.

Edited 16 July, 201510 yr by skodacarman

Just a further update...one year on and the gauges are all fine...

OK I'm a newb to this forum but an old hand at others. Just bought a scout, only had it less than a week and had this issue with the fuel gauge. It had been working fine just prior to this happening and I had just done about 800+ kms with no issue. So I got the car home and started to explore it as I was fitting a light bar. I found the fuse box and was a bit disappointed to find there was no mapping for it. It was shortly after this, whilst out for a drive, that I noted that the fuel gauge had taken an unexpected and dramatic dive southward. I first thought fuel tank hole or injector line as I had recently had that issue with another vehicle spewing diesel all over the place, but all dry. Fuel light came on so I decided to fill up to see if it was real or a phantom. Proved that to be a phantom which lead me to google and to here. Sorry about the thesis lol. Short story from here on in. I slept on this and decided that the only thing that had changed was me looking at the fuse box. This morning I went back and started to take out fuses to reset things. It would seem that the instrumentation fuse on my 2011 scout is the 2nd big 50 amp (?) fuse on the left. I pulled this fuse, checked and cleaned the terminals and replaced it. Voila! working gauge. Interesting problem though. Will see if this is a long term problem or just a small gliche

 

31 minutes ago, scoutdownunder said:

OK I'm a newb to this forum but an old hand at others. Just bought a scout, only had it less than a week and had this issue with the fuel gauge. It had been working fine just prior to this happening and I had just done about 800+ kms with no issue. So I got the car home and started to explore it as I was fitting a light bar. I found the fuse box and was a bit disappointed to find there was no mapping for it. It was shortly after this, whilst out for a drive, that I noted that the fuel gauge had taken an unexpected and dramatic dive southward. I first thought fuel tank hole or injector line as I had recently had that issue with another vehicle spewing diesel all over the place, but all dry. Fuel light came on so I decided to fill up to see if it was real or a phantom. Proved that to be a phantom which lead me to google and to here. Sorry about the thesis lol. Short story from here on in. I slept on this and decided that the only thing that had changed was me looking at the fuse box. This morning I went back and started to take out fuses to reset things. It would seem that the instrumentation fuse on my 2011 scout is the 2nd big 50 amp (?) fuse on the left. I pulled this fuse, checked and cleaned the terminals and replaced it. Voila! working gauge. Interesting problem though. Will see if this is a long term problem or just a small gliche

 

 

 

This might be irrelevant to anything but..

I have a 4x4 octavia , my left hand sender kept playing up and eventually died as was giving me weird readings , i had old expired main tank fuel pumps which also have float level on them so i fitted one onto the left side, looping the fuel hose back onto itself and soldered the connecting wires to the terminals. and hey presto left hand tank level working again.

Haven't even found where the fuel tank is yet!! 

1 minute ago, scoutdownunder said:

Haven't even found where the fuel tank is yet!! 

 

the intank pump etc are under the rear seat and carpet theres a black round cover on my 2008 4x4

5 minutes ago, scoutdownunder said:

Haven't even found where the fuel tank is yet!! 

 

 

Try this out https://www.realoem.me/Skoda/CZ/OCT/2008/419/R

Thanks will check that out later. Only had it a few days so a steep learning curve