Back again, so i have a mechanic friend who suggested it could be the dashboard? Cuz the oil pressure gauge goes crazy flickering in the middle and the temp gauge for a while didnt work but it does lately? Idk what are your guys thoughts.
Sounds to me like the contacts on the ribbon cable to the instrument cluster arenât solidly seated. It isnât a very robust design, and could loosen due to vibrations if it wasnât firmly seated in assembly.
The good news is that with an âexploded viewâ drawing of the dash assembly and some basic tools including nylon panel pry tools and maybe a set of TORX drivers, you should be able to remove the cluster, flush the contacts with electrical contact cleaner, and reinstall it. If it IS the ribbon cable, that should exorcise the ghosts.
It should be possible for a shop to test the sender unit (the part in the tank). Iâd start there before messing with the dashboard area. The sender is usually just a float operating a variable resistor, so your shop could use an ohm meter to test it at several levels of the gas tank. Start by measuring the ohms right after you fill the tank, comparing your measurement to what it should be for a full tank. If it doesnât register the correct resistance at the sender, it will never read properly at the gauge. I donât think the tank has to be dropped to do that.
It was the added information from this post from the OP that made me suspect a possible contact problem.