Hello,

I have a 1993 Ford Tempo GL 2.3L with what appear to be some messed up gauges.

Back story:

A few months back, I was trying to access the defrost vent because the air was being directed to it, instead of the panel vents (that's another story), so I took the instrument panel out to try and access the flapper door (no luck). I put it all back together, but I noticed the temperature and fuel gauges would not fall back down when the car was turned off, but stayed in the same position as they were when the car was on. Not a big deal to me, as they both appeared to read accurately.


Then I filled it up a couple weeks ago and noticed that when the car was turned off, the fuel gauge slowly moved down to about the 3/4 tank mark, even if it was reading 7/8 while on.

Yesterday, I took the plastic case off the instrument panel to polish it and clean the dust off the gauges, and I moved the temperature and fuel needles. The temperature gauge now reads about one mark (10%) lower than it should (starts off below the first mark when engine starts after sitting), and the fuel gauge reads just under the 7/8 mark (after driving it around today), when it should be between 1/2 and 3/4 (jumped up to full after I touched it yesterday, when it was reading less than 7/8).

Any ideas what's going on with this? Did I ruin the gauges to the point they need replaced? Can I fix them if there is something wrong?

Thanks!

 

Just took the car to fill it up with gas, hoping it would reset the gauge, but when I turned the car on after filling up, the needle went past the full mark (indicating 9/8 of a tank). Any ideas? Should I just buy a new gauge?