Outer Limits 4x4 Board

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?

http://i19.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/b4/19/f53e_2.JPG - go here for pics

just check the fuses first then work from there

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.

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

you can get them for around $55.00 from bbm motorsport in sydney

thanks for that, will check out SA first, if not will give them a call.
hailey

good to see a young lady so interested in 4wds!
well done on you purchase champ and good luck doing her up!!

thanks, ya im looking forward to doing it up, should be fun! i will post some pics soon!

Keep in mind too with all likelyhood the coolant temp sender wont come out without busting off, so you will need to drill it out, nasty job.

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 .

plans are to paint it camo pink! should look really good!

and put a big bass speaker in with 400watts so it sounds as cool as it looks my son run 2 /400watt in back sounded great and looked great

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.

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?

http://i19.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/b4/19/f53e_2.JPG - go here for pics

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!!!

thanks. ya my dad has found that as well. we are buying a new one soon!

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?

http://i19.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/b4/19/f53e_2.JPG - go here for pics

Fuel gauge may be fixable, but you'll have to drop the tank either way... have a look at article here;

http://www.pointnshoot.org/modules.php? ... =0&thold=0

also have extracts of the workshop manual in the downloads section if you need them....

Have a ball


Spock

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.

thanks in advance

cookie monster

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

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....

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'm jealous... wish I got a Sierra that young.


Don't think it needs to be said any more but yeah, fuel gauge is useless. Mines got 3 possible positions -

Top -It's full

Middle - Somewhere between full and empty, who knows ?

Bottom - Empty... if you're lucky it still has 10L in it... if not. You're walking.


Useless!


Just go by how many ks you've done to work out when to fill up.


Anyway, congratulations on the car, I reckon it's a good first car.


If you can drive a zook against the wind, you can drive anything...

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'll back hybrids comment...

the aisin carbie gets real unhappy when the vac lines are not running properly, either cracked or blocked (damn ants nesting).

also check heater hoses around carbie as it may not be "melting" the slug on the auto choke.

Spock

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)