Guage prob in au fairmont

Falcon SXR8 · 03-02-2010, 02:17 PM

Hi there I just brought a fairmont its a 99 model. But the guages in the dash cluster seem to be playing up. The oil pressure guage every now and then slowly goes right to maximum then comes back down to normall. The fuel guage doesn't read full when the tank is, it sits about 3 quarters and doesn't move down on a long trip untill the key is turned off then back on again. The temp guage doesn't get to the normall spot it should, it only moves up a tiny bit and takes ages. Now the motor is reaching proper temp and i replaced the thermostat but the guage aint working properly. Now the volt guage has decided to read maximum too.

Whats going on any ideas ???? I was thinking maybe bad earth for the guages or something.

Thanks in advance

bodes-sh · 03-02-2010, 08:32 PM

sounds like a bad earth. i'd check the battery to engine block and battery to body and make sure they are clean and tight and go from there. good luck

sd1800 · 04-02-2010, 11:45 AM

I have read on here that AU1's especially have a poor Battery>Block earthing. Try adding a large guage earth cable between the two and see if that helps. It's something I have to attend to aswell.

My speedo is playing games at the moment where I will stop at the lights and occationaly the speedo will float between 20 - 40ks even though im stopped.

illusivedreams · 04-02-2010, 11:57 AM

Oil pressure sender unit.

Clusters are more reliable than the Oil PSU

Hords · 04-02-2010, 12:18 PM

There is service Ford Service Literature for this problem. They fitted an additional earth lead from the alternator bracket.

Falcon SXR8 · 04-02-2010, 01:15 PM

Ok thanks ill give the earth thing a try and let you know how I go. Also where are the KM stored is it in the cluster or in the ecu beacuse if I had to get a second hand cluster would it show the right KM on it ????

sd1800 · 04-02-2010, 03:35 PM

Kms are stored on the cluster unfortunetely.

Falcon SXR8 · 05-02-2010, 06:18 PM

Wow that makes it easy to fake the KM then. Is there any way to tell if its the original cluster in these cars ?????

Mr Hardware · 05-02-2010, 06:25 PM

Quote:

My speedo is playing games at the moment where I will stop at the lights and occationaly the speedo will float between 20 - 40ks even though im stopped.

This'll be a transducer issue.

Quote:

Is there any way to tell if its the original cluster in these cars ?????

Not easily. Obviously if you've got an AUII/III cluster in an AU1 or vice versa its a bit obvious however. An easy way is they all have a sticker on the back with the manufacture date, of which i've found is always within a bees dick of when the car was built (for example mine says 22 06 00 much like nearly every other component in my car (blower fan, seatbelts, gas tank, other ancillary items).