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Hello my name is hailey, and im 14 years old. i have just bought a 1988 suzuki sierra as my first car and for a school project, and i am hoping to do it up. so unfortunetly the temperature guage and fuel guage arnt working! any ideas on where i should start looking for one?
unfortunetly the temperature guage and fuel guage are one of the usual things to die, mostlikely the fuel guage first, lie boner said check the fuses first and possibly behind the fuses, sometime if to much water gets behind there they can melt together,
If the guages are broken its fairly easy to replace the instruments or even just the broken guages,
A bit of fiddling around to get them out,
To buy them new you are looking at some money$$
Try to find a second hand instrument cluster or even try the wreckers, I have seen a few around but I am in brisbane.
I hate going to weddings because all the grandma's used to poke me in the ribs saying you're next, you're next. They've stopped doing it since I started doing it to them at funerals.
thanks for the info guys!
my dad has had a look and we are pretty sure it is the coolant sender unit, and same for the fuel guage sender.
we checked this by grounding the wire to the sender with the ignition on.
the guage then moves to the top, proving its not the gauge but the sender.
looks like $10 will fix the coolant sender, not too sure yet about the fuel guage sender.
hailey
what color are you going to paint it pick a nice bright one my son painted his bright yellow of the new holden range keep up the good work and post pic's as soon as you can .
slugs are just snails that sold their belongings for drug money
Dream as if you'll live forever, live like you'll die today.
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Welcome to the board Hailey. Nice clean car you have there
You might be aware there was some "discussion" on here about whether a Sierra was a good first car. Sierras are an excellent car to learn to drive in. Starting so young, and working on it yourself, you'll have a good understanding of the car by the time you get out on the road.
PS Google Images- "pink camo" you'll get lots of ideas. I say go for it
Steve.
[quote="greg"] some say he is a man without happy dreams, or that he sees silver linings on clouds and wonders why they are not platinum... all we know, is he's called the stevie.[/quote]
ya that was my dad asking all the questions about the car before i bought it! didnt get the one in victoria (due to you guys's comments about km's) will check google out, thanks
hailey
cookiemonster_jr wrote:
Hello my name is hailey, and im 14 years old. i have just bought a 1988 suzuki sierra as my first car and for a school project, and i am hoping to do it up. so unfortunetly the temperature guage and fuel guage arnt working! any ideas on where i should start looking for one?
G,day Hailey, First of all congrats on the first car.....Great choice. I found the temp. guage on mine wasn't working when I got my second Zook about 2 weeks ago. I found that the temp sender on the thermostat housing was actually broken clean off, I would check this first as this is the most easiest fix. Anyway happy motoring!!!
cookiemonster_jr wrote:
Hello my name is hailey, and im 14 years old. i have just bought a 1988 suzuki sierra as my first car and for a school project, and i am hoping to do it up. so unfortunetly the temperature guage and fuel guage arnt working! any ideas on where i should start looking for one?
Hi all,
cookiemonster_jr's dad here. We have changed the sender unit for the temp gauge, but still dont get much travel on the gauge. It does move now, but only to the very bottom line.
Is this normal? or should it sit mid gauge at normal operating temp?
The top radiator hose is hot, but the bottom hose is much cooler(lukewarm).
Could it be the thermostat playing up?
We have checked the gauge as per the workshop manual, by earthing out the wire that goes to the sender. This sends the gauge to the top, so the gauge does works.
sounds like its running a bit cool. check to see if it has a thermostat to start with. I think they are the most missdiagnosed part in the cooling system, so if it doesn't have one and you fit a new one be prepared to pull the radiator out for a clean.
Jason
WANTED: swb vitara rear seat. the 3 seater bench type
for sale: wt diffs, snake hi steer, maruti 4.1 wt centres,
you know, even once you fix the fuel guage the only accurate reading is the empty one right? =) i think 99.9% of us on here drive my KM to the tank more than what the guage is telling us... hehe
alien wrote:you know, even once you fix the fuel guage the only accurate reading is the empty one right? =) i think 99.9% of us on here drive my KM to the tank more than what the guage is telling us... hehe
I agree, the fuel gauges are about as accurate as playing golf with a baseball bat. Trust me, ive ran outta fuel 3 times.
+ eleventy billion on the fuel gauge being useless, espeically after you bash the hell out of the tank on rocks. Check the earth for the fuel gauge too, it earths out to the body, then via the body earths back to the negative terminal of the battery. If the earth is poor, it will give inacurate readings.
Layto....
[quote="v840"]Just between me and you, I actually really dig the Megatwon, but if anyone asks, I'm going to shitcan it as much as possible! :D[/quote]
just to let you all know, we fixed the temp gauge issue by replacing the thermostat.
Gauge now sits steady at 1/3rd when at normal operating temp.
Just got to sort out the high idle speed and rough running. replaced the plugs and leads and checked rotor arm / distributor cap-all good.
will get the timing / mixture / idle checked by mechanic in a couple of weeks.
cheers
cookie monster / cookiemonster_jr
Do those sierra tanks have a float for the fuel gauge sender, mine was also playing up. Then I filled it halfway with fuel, went for an absolute flogging through the bush behind my house and it came good. The only reason I ask is the fact that it maybe getting stuck/skicky for some reason..........anyway all good now!
cookie monster wrote:just to let you all know, we fixed the temp gauge issue by replacing the thermostat.
Gauge now sits steady at 1/3rd when at normal operating temp.
Just got to sort out the high idle speed and rough running. replaced the plugs and leads and checked rotor arm / distributor cap-all good.
will get the timing / mixture / idle checked by mechanic in a couple of weeks.
cheers
cookie monster / cookiemonster_jr
I had the exact same problems with my first zuk when I bought it last year. The high idle was due to the timing. I could wind out the idle screw as far as it would go and it would still idle around 1300-1400. The timing for some reason had been set around 14BTDC. Bringing it back down to the stock 10BTDC sorted that problem. AS for the rough idle this was caused by one of the vac lines. It had fallen off the inlet manifold near the carb. Maybe check there are no cracked vac lines or uncovered vac nipples.
i personally would not back the comment of ignition timing holding idle up , certainly it will make idle higher , but if you back off the idle screw so far that the butterfly is closed the car should not run !
things that i have found in the past holding idle up in the past... (assuming hot idle screw is backed right off)
1. air leaks
2. cold idle screw set to high (or blocked auto choke circuit)
3. load sensing idle screw wound out too far
4. hydrocarbon dash pot screw wound out to far
5. carburettor tampered with (put back together incorrectly with something holding primary butterfly open)
