Fuel gauge intermittent. Replaced cluster and sending unit. Advice? (3 Viewers)

[imperium]

'04 LC. 292K miles. Well maintained and clean inside and out.

Having a hair pulling moment here. Fuel gauge works intermittently, even after replacing the cluster (from Tanin) and fuel sending unit. I'm also having an issue where the whole gauge cluster will sometimes take a few seconds to come to life after starting the truck, then all gauges except for the fuel gauge will come on. Something I've noticed is that the fuel gauge will never start working again while driving; the truck has to have sat off for at least a few minutes for it to maybe work after restarting the truck.

I have the EWD open and am trying to figure out where the gauges get power from as I think I'm experiencing an effect of water intrusion from a previously poorly installed windshield.

Things I've done/looked for:

• No fuses are blown
• Fuel junction under drivers side rear is clean and shows no signs of corrosion
• Refurbished gauge cluster with new stepper motors
• New fuel sending unit
• Tried re-seating the cluster to the connectors on the back

Is there an ECU that takes all gauge-related inputs and is wired to the dash? To me it just feels like a faulty relay or corroded junction/wire somewhere that is causing intermittent contact.

Any and all help would be much appreciated.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Is this a new problem? Anything you worked on or changed when it started doing it?

 

[imperium]

Is this a new problem? Anything you worked on or changed when it started doing it?

Unfortunately my cluster problems are not new. The oil pressure gauge died a few months ago then started working again about a week later. At that same time the cluster would sometimes take a few seconds to come to life when starting the truck. Everything went back to normal after a bit until 2 weeks ago when the oil pressure and fuel gauges died at the same time. Then I started having problems again with the cluster taking a few seconds to come on.

I figured stepper motors were going out so I replaced the cluster and everything was good for 3 days.

No new mods or anything I can think of that would cause this.

 

[imperium]

I'll also add that the gauges always work for the first start of the day. Once I get back in and start the car after a few minutes of it sitting is when the gauges start acting weird.

 

[excessive]

this seems to be a common problem with the stepper motors in gauge clusters in the 2004 model years

 

[imperium]

That's what I've been reading and why I went for a refurb cluster with new motors.

 

[imperium]

Okay I think I found something. In January I noticed I had a leaking windshield from a bad previous owner install, so I had a new windshield put in correctly. Around that time is when my electrical gremlins started (not surprising) and I couldn't pinpoint where they were coming from.

Well after looking around in the EWD I noticed a connector called J14 connected the cluster fuse to the cluster so I decided to look for it. It's located on the right side behind the glove box. Was pretty easy to find and as soon as I pulled the connector I found corrosion. Looked up and found clear evidence of water intrusion right above the connectors.

I put some electrical contact cleaner on there but there was no change to my cluster woes.

I guess now I need to work on getting a new connector made. Any advice on if that's something I should DIY? Or take it to a shop that knows what they're doing...

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I was going to say, if it wasn't something you've done, then intermittent or new electrical problems usually point to water issues. You could try depinning the block and cleaning each terminal with an emery board.