vw passat...?

Question

hi everybody im a complete novice when it comes to cars hense the question. ive just brought a passat for my mother its an estate 1992. the diesel/fuel gauge dont work/move. how can i get it fixed and how much do you think it will cost? thanks

It was a private sale.

we put 15 pounds in it weekly so we know we wont run out of diesel and do up to hundred miles a week. but its still annoying not having the gauge working. ( i do anything to avoid an extra bill. lol)

Answer 1

I'd say its 99% certain that its the sender in the tank. I had to replace mine in my 1993 Audi S2. The wire connecting the two sides of the sender had simply snapped.

What to do is this....

Lift up the carpet from the boot and you should see a small round cover held down with 3 screws. Remove this to uncover a round nobbly ring that needs to be removed. It'll probably be on quite tight, so you might need to "help" it with a hammer and large flat blade screwdriver (or similar).
Once that's off, you can pull out the cover to the tank and access the sender unit. Remove it and either replace it with a new one (approx £15) or after cleaning it, resolder the wire together (or a new wire) and replace it.

Fit it all back together again and Bob's your uncle! A working fuel gauge.

Answer 2

first try your fuses(fuse 16 if i remember correctly but not sure)
if not, under the back seat(the bit you sit on, not the back rest) you will find a rubber cover about 4 inches diameter. remove this.
under that you will be able to see the top of the tank, and the sender unit. It has two pipes and a small electric plug on the top of it.
unplug the electrics and with the ign on watch the fuel gauge. it should read nothing at all or full!
connect the two wires together and the fuel gauge will read full/empty (opposite to previous) if this happens the gauge and all wiring is fine, the fault lies with the fuel sender!
these are removed by unscrewing the big nut(anticlockwise), remove the seal(carefully) an lift it out, it looks like the ballvalve in your toilet cistern(a long thin rod with a plastic ball on the end)
no need to remove any fuel to do this as it's diesel and will not ignite no matter how hard you try(unless using a gas burner, even putting a cigarette into it will not cause it to light) but don't try that would be silly!
parts are cheapest from http://gsfcarparts.com
do this outside to get rid of the fumes anyway!
hope this helps!

Answer 3

Is ur teperature guage working? if it isnt then its the voltage stabiliser which is at the back of ur instrument panel. If temp guage is working then it is the fuel guage side of things. There is a simple test that can be done just by using the wires on the sender unit on the petrol tank, but i am sorry i cannot remember exactly how its done as i am disabled and hyave memory probs due to strokes but it is very simple and by doing this test at the sender unit side, if when doing this thenfuel guage if working will shoot right past full, that test alone will tell u that ur guage is ok ane the wiring from tank to guage is ok and since temp guage works then voltage stabiliser is ok. So ur prob is at the tank area, it could be the tank sender unit which has a float on it, the unit could be faulty, the float could have dropped off but very unlikely unless it has been mkessed bout with i9n pasdt and not refitted properly, if it has been removed and refitted the float could have been damaged hence it will fill with fuel so it wont float, but u will see this on removing unit. Check the terminal tabs at the unit have one or both broken off?
To change tank unit could e an easy or pain to fix depending on where the unit is on tank and where the tank is, u have to drain fuel tank on some tanks on some cars if unit is below fuel level.

Ur petrol tank could be easily accessed from inside car or it may be strapped underneath and it may have to removed due to sender unit on top of tank and pinned against body of car, but there could be an access panel inside car under the carpet.

Answer 4

I owned a 99 Passat as well. Had it for about a year. Traded it in after 88,000 miles. In the year I owned it I spent over $5,000 in repairs. I loved the car and to this day it has still been my favorite but the repairs were way too costly. My advice would be if you really want a volkswagon, buy one brand new or close to new so you have a warranty. Then sell or trade it in before the warranty runs out.

Answer 5

It could be the sending unit in the fuel tank. could go as high as 2 hundred plus 2 hrs labor
or the gauge/ instrument cluster less labor parts about the same
or a bad wire, all labor1 to 8 hrs
keep the tank topped off

Answer 6

It could be the gauge itself,or the sender unit that supplies the information to the gauge or the float level in the tank itself,if it's the latter then it is cheap to get a used one from a breaker,refitting is fiddly but not difficult,as for the others a electrical test is required.

Answer 7

Usually,the part in the fuel tank called the sender its a float on a stick . It unscrews +,-, wires to disconnect reverse fitment. Do it yourself,£15 garage£50 drain tank or run car dry.

Answer 8

i can go 1000 kms on a tank in my 1992 passat wagon,so if the guage isn't an major deal then just keep it toped up and use the trip meter as you guage.other than that send your email to me and i will scan and forward the repair manual pages you need.
[e-mail]

Answer 9

It will probably cost more to fix than the car is worth. Brim it; then keep topping it up after every 300 miles or so.

Answer 10

if you bought ot from a dealership they should repair it for you. Otherwise take it to the garage that you intend taking the car to for MOT/Service. Keep the history of repair/service with the same garage.