Hi,im new to this  

can any body help me with this issue which im having on my car ?

 

its a fabia vrs tdi 2004

I only had this car for couple days and im having an issue , When i bought the car i put £20 diesel  which took my gauge to half , after driving back home it was one quarter ,the next day driving to work my fuel gauge went from quarter to 3 quarters .. i was late for work so i parked the car and went to work , after few hours i was on my break,So went to my car and started it and it was still showing 3 quarters so decided to take the car for quick blast which i thought might solve the problem so i parked back up after the blast left the engine running and after 5 mins the gauge went back to a 1quarter i got happy as i thought me taking the car for a blast solved the problem,after that me driving till next day it didnt give me no issues , so my fuel light was on the next day and i fueled up around £55 but can remember how many litres ,after 2-3 days my fuel needle was still on full after me driving 60miles in them 60 miles i have been driving harsh so even if i did fill up my expansion tank or reserve tank i still should be able to see the needle move but it didnt , someone told me the pump could be dirty so i took it out and it was clean but cleaned it anyways check the plug for any damage or corrosion too , today is the 5th day with full tank , when im driving it start to go to 3 quarters but when i park up and leave the engine running it goes back to full for some reason ..

so could it be the cluster the actual gauge or a wiring fault? 

I will get a multimeter and check to resistance and voltage in the wiring of the fuel pump when i have day of from work 

 

Btw it is my fourth vrs but never had an Issue like that

 

someone help please

Edited 26 January, 20188 yr by macc19

@macc19 - You've a good handle on the possible faults and likely causes. Have you tried putting the trip computer in available range mode to see if it "jumps" too?

I think it is as it was showing 285 -310 when i had full tank , (forgot to mention i did disconnect the battery for 30 mins )

after connecting the battery the reading went from 285miles to 225miles , after me driving around 20 miles it is still showing 225 or sometimes 215 but goes back to 225miles 

I think it is as it was showing 285 -310 when i had full tank , (forgot to mention i did disconnect the battery for 30 mins )

after connecting the battery the reading went from 285miles to 225miles , after me driving around 20 miles it is still showing 225 or sometimes 215 but goes back to 225miles 

Today I changed the fuel pump and it mad no difference, while changing fuel pump i turned ignition on , plug was connected to the pump and pump was out of the tank i moved the float up and down and i could see my gauge needle move with the pump which made me think its not the pump but as ive already paid for another one and I changed it , after changing it was showing half a gauge , which the ignition was on I disconnected the plug from the pump and it was still showing half? So i turned ignition on and off again it was still on half so i did it a few times and it went over half ..

so i could me the wiring or cluster ?

i have also taken the cluster out and opened it from one side i will attach pictures, and i also think i have a dodgey fuel pump plug which can cause problem

Finding the start and end points of that burnt out track, and repairing with an insulated wire might well sort out your problem.

I wonder what's caused that track to burn out.

 

Intrigued by the wire skullduggery at the plug as well. Wonder if it's related.

Im not very good with the track , would it be easier if i can just buy another cluster? 

 

 

 

6 hours ago, Wino said:

Finding the start and end points of that burnt out track, and repairing with an insulated wire might well sort out your problem.

 

29 minutes ago, TMB said:

I wonder what's caused that track to burn out.

 

Intrigued by the wire skullduggery at the plug as well. Wonder if it's related.

I have bought the car with this fault, previous owner owned it for almost 8 years , but when i mention the fault to him he had no idea , but looking at the plug you can tell somebody have already been there also the clip/lock was broken on the plug when i first opened it 

15 minutes ago, macc19 said:

Im not very good with the track , would it be easier if i can just buy another cluster? 

 

 

 

 

Not really, the immobiliser stuff as well as radio code and odometer info is all stored in the cluster. Much better to repair that one. Got any friends that could help?

4 hours ago, Wino said:

Not really, the immobiliser stuff as well as radio code and odometer info is all stored in the cluster. Much better to repair that one. Got any friends that could help?

I dont think i have anyone around who can help me with it, is there any cluster specialists who can repair it ?? Or i should give it a try my self? What stuff would i need if i try to do it my self? 

I'm literally just looking at a spare cluster board to try to see what that track is doing, but it dodges under both the connector plastic and the stepper motor, so it'll be easier with a test meter tomorrow; rather than visually now with tired eyes.

If I can identify that it is functionally relevant, and could plausibly have been cooked by the damage repaired at the pump/sender end of things, I can probably talk you through fixing it.

 

Im abit **** with electrical stuff , glad that there is someone on this page who is willing to help which I appreciate alot.

I've found out now that the track in question goes to pin 32 of the green connector, which is a 'sender earth', so could be relevant, as the brown/white wire in your photo is connected to the same earth point in the loom. It's too late for me to do any more thinking today, but I'll have a deeper look tomorrow and try to see how the gauge circuit works.

Do you have any sort of electrical test meter you could use to see if that 'cooked' track is actually broken?

I showed the picture of the cooked track to another person and he also said it could be related but i wasnt sure, 

yes i do have a multimeter which i can use ?i would need instructions as im not very good with it, 

thanks to you once again as you have provided me so much information in last 24hrs than the most people ive asked on here and local garages

No probs.  I'll try to get a photo at lunchtime of my meter probes on two suitable points to test the track. 

Cheers mate 

Not the best photo, but try pin 32 of the connector, top right in this view, to the corner of the big chip where the red probe is, (there's a hole through the board to poke it into). Meter set on lowest Ohms resistance range, or beeping function for continuity if it has one.  If you're not sure, pop up a pic of the front of the meter.

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Wino said:

Not the best photo, but try pin 32 of the connector, top right in this view, to the corner of the big chip where the red probe is, (there's a hole through the board to poke it into). Meter set on lowest Ohms resistance range, or beeping function for continuity if it has one.  If you're not sure, pop up a pic of the front of the meter.

 

 

 

 

I am not getting any reading when i do the test maybe its my pins on the multimeter which arent long/sharp to poke in the small hole, i tried continuity test but no luck :(

Good work. Now leave the probe on the connector pin still there, but move the other one onto the nearest bit of shiny copper of the cooked track and see if that's connected.

If it is, keep working along the shiny bits further  and further from connector til you find where it isn't.

Typing on phone now so I'll leave it at that for now.

Was I expecting that reading on the multimeter ? I am running late for work but im taking the multimeter and the torx with me so i can do it in my break time which is at 9 and then ill let u know how i got on, thanks

Yes the reading is correct because the track is broken.  The meter will show continuity when you find a bit of track that is still connected to the pin (if there is a surviving bit there).

As Lee says, that 1 reading means no connection.

 

Blowing up your last photo from yesterday, it looks like the red-ringed bit may be broken, measure with probes either side of that and see if that bit gives the same 1 reading.

If it does, measure from each side to the points you were on earlier to check if that's the only break.

 

 

2 hours ago, Wino said:

As Lee says, that 1 reading means no connection.

 

Blowing up your last photo from yesterday, it looks like the red-ringed bit may be broken, measure with probes either side of that and see if that bit gives the same 1 reading.

If it does, measure from each side to the points you were on earlier to check if that's the only break.

 

 

So i did measure either side of the track and im getting 1 again so the track os broken, but if i measure before the red ringed bit it gives me 00.4ohms 

 

and i also left the black into the connector 32 and used the red one to move on to the shiny bit but i still got no reading

 

ive check all them shinny bits which are in that red square but no readings

Sounds like you've proved that the track is OK between the break and the connector, but not sure whether you've proved that the track the other side of the break is OK.

 

What you want to do (using my picture with a 'pretend' track break in the red circle indicated by //) is put the probe that was on the connector pin 32 onto the side of the track break where I've put the black arrow, leaving the other probe in the same place next to the corner of the chip (where my red probe is in the picture).