I recently purchased a 1980mdl KE55 Corolla in excellent condition, but as always, it has a few minor bugs

 

The fuel and temp guages have just *stopped* working, not sure if its a common fault?

I'm checking senders in the engine bay for the temp, but havent seen anything missing so far, and was working when i purchased the car.

 

Thinking maybe its the cluster itself? any known faults or workarounds for this would be helpful, thanks in advance guys.

Edited February 1, 200917 yr by p0rt

Having had a few of these in my youth, I can confirm its a common fault - and I think its in the gauge.

 

I never got around to fixing mine though so I don't know what the problem is - check the FAQ - it might be in there?

Ah well, might try giving it a faith *whack* on the dash, see what happens.

more just want the temp guage, being an older car i don't know how she holds up on stinking hot days.

never fun cooking a car, been there, done that.

Cheers!

Ah well, might try giving it a faith *whack* on the dash, see what happens.

more just want the temp guage, being an older car i don't know how she holds up on stinking hot days.

never fun cooking a car, been there, done that.

Cheers!

 

 

Just fit an aftermarket electric temperature gauge.

 

Fit a sender in the cooling system somewhere.

 

Fit a gauge in the cabin. Super easy to wire up. Then you know what temperature it runs in degrees. Thats a much better way to tell temp. Old gauges are very dodgy in my opinion.

Yep that sorted her out, gave her a good whack from front and behind, put my seatbelt on, looked up and guages were working, go the rolla!

 

 

*edit for above reply* - I'm not really willing to put any modifcation into a car i have no intention of keeping, I'm just fixing up the bits previous owner didnt bother repairing, then she's up for sale, cheers for the info regardless.

-Regards, Kyle.

Edited February 2, 200917 yr by p0rt

At the back of youre gauge cluster there will be a resistor. I've had two of these fail on me and the fuel and temp gauges dropped out both times. For some reason Toyota used 10v (I think) gauges, hence the resistor. Any auto elec should be able to do this very easily if youre not comfortable having a go yourself.

I just got a ke55 and the temp gauge wasn't working at all, and the fuel gauge only goes up to 3/4 even after putting a full tank in

 

the ke55 had been sitting (without the radiator disconnected) for about 3 years, maybe more. So i tested the temp sender by earthing to wire going to it and the gauge went to hot, so obviously the sender is f@$ked from sitting in stagnant coolant and water for so long. Getting a new temp sender today

 

as for the fuel gauge... like i said it only goes up to half way so i'm guessing that the float/sender unit in the petrol tank may be at fault?? is there anyway to remedy this without taking out the petrol tank??

hey quick question with replacing the temperature sender

 

being as it's right under the thermostat/top radiator hose, does that mean that when if i take out the old dud temp sender, that all the coolant will just come rushing out?

Or am i fine to just somehow get a socket over the little bastard and twist it off without worrying about draining my coolant?

 

cheers

Edited August 25, 201016 yr by jackbyo

Yeah this is a common problem on KE55 rolla's. It's the resistor on the back of the dash which controls both the fuel and temp gauges. I have had this happen a couple of times on different KE55's. :)