Crazy fuel gauge & dash board bulb replacement help plea

[Staty]

Afternoon all, got a couple of bits on my car that have been winding me up recently, the fuel gauge is one of them, it's mental, never shows the correct reading, just flickers about here and there, is there any way of resetting it? Also i have a few bulbs out in my speedo, where the flipp can i get replacement bulbs from? Any help would be great as always, cheers guys

[Grrrmachine]

Pretty much everything you need is in the Wiki. Click around this page:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... nstruments

[Staty]

Cheers bud

[Staty]

Not really got the information i need here, so any help would be appreciated, like where you can purchase speedo bulbs from and also how to access the fuel sender to see if it's that causing the problem, cheers

[Grrrmachine]

Without the model of your car, I can't give specific info. But the sender(s) are in the fuel tank, which is under your back seat. You'll have one in the pump, and possibly a second one on the other side; both are under inspection hatches that you unscrew.

The wire inside them breaks, and grounds out all over the place, giving dodgy readings.

As for the bulbs:

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... nstruments

available at any motor factors, for pennies.

[Staty]

Sweet as a nut bud, thanks for your help, i'll get on the case with them wires, is it a case of a bit of soldering? As i'll have the back seats out soon as i've got a replacement being re cleaned as we speak, cheers bud

[Grrrmachine]

Unfortunately for the senders, you can't repair them; they use resistive wire of a special grade, so you need proper knowledge and equipment to fix them. If the internal wire is broken, you'll need a new sender.

[Speedtouch]

You can remove the sender and use a multimeter to check that its resistance varies linearly as you move the float up and down.

If not, a new sender will most likely be required.

[Staty]

Is it easy for any old mug "huuuut hmmm, me" just to take the sender out and replace it with a new one?

[Brianmoooore]

You check for a faulty level sender by pulling the plugs off of them, one at a time, and shorting together the relevant pins in the plug, with less than half a tank of fuel on board.
When you short the faulty one, the gauge will give an inaccurate but steady reading. Conversely, when you short the good one you will get an inaccurate and still jumpy reading.
If the gauge is still jumping around with both senders shorted out, then the gauge (nut on the back?) or wiring (unlikely) is at fault.

[Staty]

Right ok, i'm on it! Cheers bud