Fuel Gauge Problem

[terminator0723]

Gauges not working nor turn signals

In my 94 Ranger, for some odd reason my gauges won't work other than the voltage one. When you shut the truck off the fuel gauge looks like it goes up a bit. Also my turn signals arn't working. The hazards work fine though. Any clue whats going on here?

 

[marragtop]

Have you checked all fuses and relays?

 

[terminator0723]

All the fuses look fine.. How do you test out the relays?

 

[boggs1227]

something other than your relays you may want to check ... is that you may want to take off your dash trim and see if you get to the back part of your instrument cluster ...if your ranger is like the explorer of same year then there area set of wire harness's on the back side of the cluster that plug into it ...could be that they have a bad connection and maybe loose.

have you ever taken off the dash trim to access the instruments ever in the past ...if yes then maybe the plugs became loose from the last time you worked on it .


hope this helps.

 

[terminator0723]

Dash panel could have been off before I got it. What fuses and relays should I check? I didn't get a manual so I have no clue which is which. Where could I get a diagram? The hazards and the voltage gauge works.. If something was disconnected from the back they woulden't work though would they?

 

[terminator0723]

I noticede my reverse lights don't work and i read some where that the turn signals and reverse lights are on the same fuse, so hopefully that fixes that. Now I just got to get the gauges working. Or atleast the fuel gauge... Any more suggestions?

 

[boggs1227]

http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0b/a9/c7/0900823d800ba9c7/repairInfoPages.htm

sorry this is the only info i could find for you ... if it's a bad relay then you could allways locate the suspect relay and activate the switch and see if you can hear or feel the relay working (relays will make sounds that you hear and sometimes feel as the solinoid makes contact ) if the suspect relay has nothing to it... then it could be bad .

is your truck just now haveing problems or did you buy the truck and the problems came along with it and your just trying to fix everything ?

the gas guage could be a bad sending unit that has either a stuck float ( if the truck sat for a long time they will stick sometimes) or the float it's self has filled up with gas and is not working correctlly (basiclly filled up with gas and now sinks like a rock in the tank) .

you could try to hop the truck on the bumper to see if what gas is in there could make the float unstick and or see if you get a better reading on the guage...could'nt hurt .

 

[terminator0723]

I'm not sure if the problem is exactly just with the fuel guage though because all of the gauges are dead besides for the voltage one... I bought the truck with the problems... Figured I could fix

 

[boggs1227]

bought it huh..... hey heres a idea ....almost happened to me and really could not hurt to look either.... i noticed one day out on the drive way of my house i saw one of the vaper canister caps (little round plastic acorn cap..black) i thought to my self "what the heck is this doing off the engine" went to go put it back on and noticed the other one was gone ...found out that squirrles had got into the engine compartment and started chewing on all the plastic in that area ! even the area that has the computer hookup harness (luckilly it was on the plastic shield and not the wires) .

this can happen ..... i would look for under the hood for any wires or harness that looks "eatten" on .

side note --> luckilly for me after i replaced the remaining vaper canister cap
back on the engine..2 days later almost in the same spot on
drive way they brought the other cap back to me ( lol) i kid
you not !

 

[terminator0723]

Hehe.. the squirrels found a chew toy eh?

Well I fixed the turn signals.. It was jut a fuse keeping the turn signals from working. I wish the dang guages was that easy... I'll look hard for some loose wires... There is a connector lying in the engine compartment.. I can't figure out what it's susposed to connect to although it's not close to the firewall... Meanwhile are there any other easy things I can check without removing the dash panel?

 

[boggs1227]

hard to say on a ranger but on my explorer of same year i think there are 2-3 "harness's" under the hood one is for the computer code reader port and the other i think maybe for the brake system (dont quote me tho) .try sending a pic . never had to deal with ranger of the same year .... could be different.


edit: forgot to ask about the harness you described ....does it have a cover to it ? if yes then it's most likelly a test port .

 

[terminator0723]

Nope, no cover on them. I see the test port ones.. Of course these could be test ports without the cover though.....

 

[boggs1227]

true. try sending a pic.you can do it through photobucket.com...free to set up a account .....after u upload a pic you'll see a "img" code...just copy and paste that into your reply and the pic will show up with your reply here.

 

[terminator0723]

Is there a common ground for all the gauges except the volt/amps gauge somewhere? Im wondering if there's a loose ground.

Boggs: If I can remember to get some friggen batteries ill snap that pic... im real curious where that dang wire goes.