#$*@ worthless factory guages!
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 1,147
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From: East Coast
#$*@ worthless factory guages!
I just need to vent. Driving home from work with the air on, about 85 outside, and I see the temp guage peg. 
So I quick shut off the ac, but then I notice the gas guage is showing a quarter tank higher than it was and the oil guage is reading too high, all three about the same amount above where they should be. 
At least I can put the air back on, it's not really too hot 
I had a brand new IVR, got home and threw it in, all the guages were reading too low now. I have two extra clusters from the boneyard, picked the IVR off of the nicer one, and now everything looks ok.
Ok, I feel better now. I need some real guages, but there's no good place to put them. Maybe a pillar pod...
So I quick shut off the ac, but then I notice the gas guage is showing a quarter tank higher than it was and the oil guage is reading too high, all three about the same amount above where they should be. At least I can put the air back on, it's not really too hot I had a brand new IVR, got home and threw it in, all the guages were reading too low now. I have two extra clusters from the boneyard, picked the IVR off of the nicer one, and now everything looks ok.
Ok, I feel better now. I need some real guages, but there's no good place to put them. Maybe a pillar pod...
Posting Legend
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 30,255
Likes: 37
You have an old truck with an old electrical system. You just need to clean the instrument panel voltage regulator contact points. The IPVR is just a flasher unit like a turn signal flasher. When the connection to ground goes bad or gets corroded the average voltage to the gages goes up making them read high. No big deal, just a sign that your electrical system needs attention. All of your gages will work better if you clean up all the connections. When you get them clean use some silicone dielectric grease to keep them from going bad again.
Posting Legend
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 30,255
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90% of the time the IPVR is not bad, just messing with the connections will make it work OK again. I like to keep the IPVR I have been using because I am used to the readings on my gages. When you change the IPVR the gage readings often shift.
New User
Joined: Jun 2004
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My main problem is that at 1/2 on my gas gauge, it drops to E. Is there any way I can replace or mod the gas gauge to solve this problem?
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Hotshot
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: Marengo, Iowa
Would this possibly be why my fuel guages read empty at actual 1/2 tank, and then sometimes will come up? I have no clue how many miles/hours my old beast has on it, being a coop truck before I got it. If I ground the guage sender wire, it will read full. I have noticed my oil and temp guages get funky too.
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2003
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From: Rose City, MI
gas gauge problem could be the sending unit. I had to replace the sending unit due to it leaking, but befor i droped the tank to change it the gauge read empty. New sender in it read 1/4 tank went and filled it up and it took almost 14 gallons so i guess it must been right now. as for the rest of the gauges i hooked up mechanical ones, much better now.
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: East Coast
Wouldn't old terminals with more resistance make the guages read lower? Today after about a week I noticed they were starting to act funny again. After about 50 miles my gas guage was still reading full. Yea right!
So now I put the new IVR back in there. the guages read a little lower than before, but I can live with that for now. I want to see how this one works after some use. I should have put some electric grease on there, but I forgot, and I hate to take it apart again for that. The terminals didn't look to bad though.
Yea right!So now I put the new IVR back in there. the guages read a little lower than before, but I can live with that for now. I want to see how this one works after some use. I should have put some electric grease on there, but I forgot, and I hate to take it apart again for that. The terminals didn't look to bad though.
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: East Coast
Ok, just pulled my cluster out again. (I know, I'm wierd like that) and put some electric grease on the terminals, but they were already very clean, looked like new. The truck is low miles and garage kept though.
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: East Coast
Hoov dog, so far I've been running for a week now with grease on the terminals and a new IVR. The readings are all a little lower than with the oem units, but they havn't been bobing up and down on me. The gas guage being a little lower is a little disheartening, but I realize the same amount of gas is in there as before, and before I've run below E on occasion, so I guess I won't run out of gas. Also, I reset the trip meter when I get gas, so I can usually tell by the miles if I'm gonna be really low on gas.
New User
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 15
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From: Lower Michigan
Sounds good enough to me. I really hate running along and having to keep in my head where the gas and temp gauges are in relation to each other to tell if I am over heating or just seeing the fluctuation. I'll fix this week end and post results. Thamks for taking the time, I've learned more on this site than I did in the manual.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 3,739
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From: GANS
I think most peoples gauges hover at different levels, as torque1st said. my 2wd's temp gauge always ran an 1/8" of a inch to the right of the left normal mark.. my f-250s runs in the middle.. go figure.. that is why I pull mechanical gauge on my truck now.. no funky bouncing gauges...