External Fuel Gauge...

So I am thinking about attaching an external fuel gauge to my car ('97 Passat) because my cluster isn't working and I have no way of knowing how much fuel I have.
(By the way if anyone knows where I can send it to get fixed, that would be awesome or if you have a working one you'd be willing to part with even better.)


But with that being said I don't know where or how I would install this. I've been looking at gauges on Amazon and it seems like you need to attach it to the fuel sensor, and I don't know where that is it.
I'm just posting this before I even looking in the Bentley (because I'm at work)...also I only have the second half and I am thinking it might now be in this half.

Thank you in advanced!

You can send out your cluster to be repaired but the main guy around here we all seem to use isn’t doing it anymore. There are a few threads recently about this.
There is a search function here. You can enter in a search like "repair cluster" and start reading up on how to fix them.
Most of the time in these older cars, the solder points on the back end up braking or if your heater core was going bad or blew up, the constant moisture issue from a slow leaking on or a massive blow out has caused some owners to have the cluster repaired and or replaced.
By external gauge I think you mean a fuel gauge?
You can EASILY connect a miltimeter (volt meter) set to ohms to the wires coming off the tank. This will give you a reading. I’m not 100% sure on the values, maybe someone can correct me but I think (if I remember when I did this to my fuel sending unit) that empty is like 8 ohms and 0.4 was completely full??? Something like that. Usually no ohms means that the sender is at the top of the "coil" and the lower it goes, the higher the value.
This would be an easy set up for you to get you by for now until you can fix the cluster.

You can also try Scangauge II, it connects to the OBD2 port and after a bit of configuring, will give you real time MPG, GPH, and will save trip data and tell you how many miles is left to the tank and how much fuel was used and all that jazz, it will also tell you every single thing your ECU is getting data for but the car won’t tell you, like real time coolant temp, intake manifold air temp, boost, and so on. it wont however give you how much is in the tank (that i know of) . It is programmable and if the ECU gets data for the tank level then it will do it but i don't know if there is a code for it. Can someone chime in about if the ECU gets a signal for the tank level???

As for fixing the issue, it’s not many parts you have to take off to get the cluster out of there. Pull it out and start looking around at all the connections and the circuit board, look for corrosion and broken areas around the soldered points on the PCB (printed circuit boar). The cluster is really basic for these cars and you should find out what’s going wrong really fast after a visual inspection.

sml

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alaskansnail said:

So I am thinking about attaching an external fuel gauge to my car ('97 Passat) because my cluster isn't working and I have no way of knowing how much fuel I have.
(By the way if anyone knows where I can send it to get fixed, that would be awesome or if you have a working one you'd be willing to part with even better.)
But with that being said I don't know where or how I would install this. I've been looking at gauges on Amazon and it seems like you need to attach it to the fuel sensor, and I don't know where that is it.
I'm just posting this before I even looking in the Bentley (because I'm at work)...also I only have the second half and I am thinking it might now be in this half.
Thank you in advanced!

Click to expand...

There are some used clusters out there, buy a known good one and resolve it that way.

If you can't find one, and your odometer is not working, then track the miles you drive on paper so you have a rough idea of how far you've gone.

The next best option you can do is to just fill the tank after so many days, say 5, and use that as a guide. After you figure out how far 5 days of regular travel requires to fill the tank again then extend that out to 8 or 10 days and see if you can't get it nailed down further.

You can, as noted above, also try a scangauge II, I have one, but I don't use it for fueling, the mpg function tends to be pretty sketchy and requires extensive setup, as does the mph function too. I use it for boost pressure, charging system voltage and something else I can remember at the moment. I don't think the ECU is capable of comprehending the mpg function because we also know the MFA clusters reporting of mpg is pretty sketchy at best, and fiddling with the QA to get reporting of mpg more accurate is contrary to what QA adjustments are for IMO.

Be aware however, that even with a good cluster your miles reported by the odo might not be accurate. My speedo is spot on with GPS, but the odo is under by about 5%. I correct manually during my calcuation of mpg.

Check the FS section for a cluster, you might also try VWVortex B3/B4 classifieds section. Seems to me there's someone parting a B4 Passat there.

Steve

Vr6 cluster will also work, but the tach will be incorrect and you’d lose the GP light. Not sure if there would be other lost features.

I’d guess 2.0 clusters would also work, but I think that’s a rare bird.

-Todd