Topaz

Hi Everyone,
I have a 1994 Topaz and the fuel and temperature gauges only work intermittently. Most of the time they don’t work at all but if I fill the tank they will come on and stay on until the ignition is switched off, then they don’t work on restarting. My mechanic says it is a faulty fuel sender but I have also seen threads that say it is an electrical fault behind the clocks. Would anyone have any thoughts on the problem before I invest in a replacement fuel sender? Thanks.

I'd go with whatever the consensus is on the VWT4forum. It doesn't sound likely that your mechanic could be right if both gauges stop working at the same time.

I would suspect the instrument cluster first, and it probably won't be too hard to find someone to repair it - there are several companies that specialise in cluster repairs.

Thanks Roopert,
Good advice, I was wondering about the two gauges going on and off together if it was just the fuel sender. I’ll also check the T4 forum again.

Can’t offer any direct insight, but it might also be worth checking out other T4 forums as it’s most likely an issue with the VW bit rather than the AS bit!

Such malfunctioning was fairly common on cars from the 60's and was due to voltage regulators on the rear of the clusters, perhaps something similar on yours.