coolant/fuel gauge working... I might have an idea or not?
 

I have been thinking about the fuel / coolant gauge functions and this is kind of getting to me. Any of you that have done a swap and does not have coolant/fuel working I may have an idea but I don't have the car to test it on.

Here goes
By bypassing the can network controlling the gauges (fuel/coolant) is there a way to solder in the signal wire to the +side of the gauge motor, from the fuel level sender and getting the needle to work under that instead of the combination meter. The level sender and coolant are variable resistors in a way so Im wondering if it would match to what the gauge wants.

If the voltage is too high maybe put in a resistor in series to drop the voltage going to the gauge for getting the right readings corresponding to what the sensor is saying.

Anyways this is just a thought if I had a cluster in my hands I would try it out and get back with results but any of you that have free time on your hands and would like to have a functioning fuel/coolant gauge "maybe" this could work.

cheers

Hi Rob. Any luck with the above mentioned idea?

nope thats not possible, the needles are sepper motors. not like a older style clusters. So you cant solder directly to it. Fuel consumption are calculated by the ECU and passed on to the cluster as its consuming to give a more accurate number and also the "fuel economy" part of the cluster. Same with temperature. its purely digital. Unless you want to run the FA20 temperature sensor and keep the stock ecu. but without somehow faking the signals needed to fake the ecu RPM then not sure its possible at all with just connecting to the needles directly.

Hi Gerald. Thanks for that response. Okay yes well temperature I plan to use a dual temp sensor so no issues there. Rpm I am still trying to troubleshoot, I know one must use a crank pickup signal(simple) but I'm pretty sure it requires the cam sensor signal as well(this I am really not sure how to mimic).