Hi Folks,

I've joined as one of the cars I look after is my mum-in-laws '98 2.0 Focus estate. I've been doing some work on it this weekend with a lot of success (boot seal, timing belt kit, water pump and coolant). The thing that's got me stumped though is the fuel gauge. You know what's coming, don't you? It's not working - reading empty. Here's what I've done so far;

Gauge test - all looks OK, needle moves to max and then back again
Bridged the white/red and brown/red (I think wires) to and from the sender. Gauge still reads empty.
Tested continuity between gauge and sender - all OK for both wires.

The wire to the sender has battery voltage but the wire from the sender has less than 1 volt. I've stuck my multimeter across the sender and I get a resistance reading that does change when I rock the car to get the petrol sloshing around. I'm stumped. I suspect the wire from the sender to the gauge so I'm going to bypass it tonight and see what happens. I was wondering if the gauge test just test that the gauge physically works? ie does it mean that it works correctly or just that it isn't stuck. The dash shows codes 9202 and 9204 for sender open circuit and sender short circuit but I didn't check them BEFORE I started messing with the wires so I suspect that at least one has been caused by me as I doubt that both codes could be created by the same error. Any ideas, I'd liek to be sure so I'm not spending £110 on a sender/pump that I don't need. Cheers.

Right, got an update.

Had a tinker tonight and I've discovered that the wiring from the sender to the gauge is OK and is showing decent voltage. When I plug the instruments back in though, the gauge is still dead. This seems to leave me with two options;

Faulty gauge
Faulty instrument pod

I'm assuming a gauge fault as it's only the fuel gauge that's misbehaving. I know that there is a known issue with Focus intrument pods, but I believe this tends to effect all gauges? My next step will be to try soemone else's gauges in mine or vice-versa.

Yes, it is quite a common fault the clusters. You must bear in mind if you do change the cluster the mileage will be that of the old vehicle not yours so try and find one from a vehicle thats done similar miles to your own car.

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to be looking out for a good used cluster then, I'll see if the 'mileage correction' folk can sort the different mileage issue.

Has anyone stripped a cluster to see if there's just an internal short or something? It seems a shame to need an entire cluster when it's just the one gauge (for now) that's at fault.