1998 Buick Park Avenue Gas Guage doesnt work. stuck under

1998 BUICK PARK AVENUE
92,000 MILES • 6 CYL • FWD • AUTOMATIC
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EVANSTONBUICK
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My gas gauge has not worked for two years and its really bugging me. It stopped working a couple of weeks after I had the vehicle towed to a Buick dealer to have the manifold intake cover replaced. Do you think something might have happened from that experience?
I heard that if I took a powerful magnet to the gage and turned it counter clockwise back to E while the car was off I could start the vehicle and it would reset. I tried but the needle would only move 1/4 of the way. Im thinking of getting a stonger magnet. What do you think?
Sep 28, 2009 at 11:34 PM
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CRZYDRVR
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Try having the sending unit replaced for the fuel gauge. It comes with the fuel pump as an assembly. Expensive.
Oct 5, 2009 at 3:18 AM
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AXLEBREAKER
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You can fix the gauge yourself by pulling the plastic trims from around the gauge cluster and pulling the clear plastic cover off the gauge cluster and manually moving it back around all the way with your finger. For some reason when you disconnect the battery it sometimes causes the fuel gauge to jump back and forth and it will flip around backwards and stay hung below the pin. I have had to do this twice now and it has always been caused from disconnecting and connecting the battery. Under the dash on the pass. side is a large black plastic cover that is held on by 4 or so screws, if you remove this cover and find a fuse block with fuses and remove the fuse that has instr. cluster or panel on it BEFORE disconnecting the battery, you won't flip out the gauge! It's kind of a pain to have to remove that fuse, but it's a lot easier than messing with the gauge cluster!
Oct 10, 2009 at 5:37 AM
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THEATRRAP
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You heard right. I have a somewhat powerful magent, but not like ultimate or something. My guage has done that 3 times, all after Buick Garage repairs. Why? I don't know. What I do know is that the magnet was able to reset it. Just get one that will rotate it all the way around to where it belongs. Good luck.
Oct 27, 2009 at 4:45 PM
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BOWFAN
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Are you a do-it-yourself'r?

There are a couple ways you can fix this yourself.

Some people claim to have success using a magnet to draw the gauge needle around (counter-clockwise) until it gets back into the proper range.

Others recommend drilling a tiny hole in the clear dash cluster cover and inserting a bent paper clip to flip the needle over. They then either plug the hold with a rubber plug or leave it for the next time it flips open.

A third method involves taking the plastic cover off the gauge cluster and flipping the needle over with your finger and then reassembling.

The magnet wouldn't work for me, so I resorted to that third method. But any time your get a loose battery connection or disconnect the battery, the problem may happen again. I wanted to put a permanent fix in place.

Forth method. I opened it up, drilled a hole in the cluster panel, and put a stop pin on the full side to match the factory pin on the empty side.

In 2003 and later BPAs the factory installed a full-side pin, if that tells you anything.




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Dec 17, 2009 at 8:04 PM