Technical 2003 Fiat Panda Gauges Incorrect

[CupCakes]

Good Evening all

First post on here so apologies if I get something wrong.

I've got a 2003 1.1 Fiat Panda Active which for the past year of ownership has been faultless.

Unfortunately, This morning the battery decided it no longer wanted to hold charge which meant that it needed to be replaced. After getting a shiny new one installed, everything appeared to work correctly, apart from the fuel and temperature gauge.

For some odd reason the needles are facing nearly vertically downwards when the engine is off or just started, The needles appear to have the correct amount of movement as after some time the fuel needle will move to about the 10 o'clock position and the temperature needle to about 9 o'clock. It would appear that the needles are starting in the "incorrect" location almost as if they somehow moved on the axles in the dial.

I should note that the gauges were correct before the battery ran flat and all other systems appear to be working just fine.

Thanks in advance!

 

[CupCakes]

Though id add some pictures of the instruments

The first picture is with the ignition off.
The second is just as the car is started.
The third is after about 5 minutes of driving, the temperature has come up to what would normally be about the middle.

There is about half a talk of fuel in the vehicle and it would appear that the sender is working correctly as if there really was that little fuel in the car the corresponding light would be on.

 

[mjc506]

Weird! I seem to recall that there's a gauge test or needle sweep operation in MES, that might correct it? Otherwise it might be a case of disassembling the dash and manually rotating the needles to the '0' position (but I'm surprised there's no position feedback within the stepper drivers)

 

[Yolanda]

How strange. Have you tried disconnecting the battery e.g. remove the negative lead for a minute or two, replace and see if there working normally.

 

[CupCakes]

Ill give disconnecting the battery a shot since I don't have access to an MES service, I have my doubts though. Ill pop an update up with any results.

 

[koalar]

the needles are loose on spindles, they spin to any position

I suspect they just need resetting, only turn them the right direction as per video. also disconnect the battery before working on it

when my battery was faulty the gauges would bang at the stops quite hard

 

[CupCakes]

the needles are loose on spindles, they spin to any position

I suspect they just need resetting, only turn them the right direction as per video. also disconnect the battery before working on it

when my battery was faulty the gauges would bang at the stops quite hard

Okay wow, that video is absolute gold. I'll give the battery disconnect a go first and should that fail I'll be trying this tomorrow evening.

I'll keep this thread updated. Cheers

 

[CupCakes]

Update Time:

So, disconnecting the battery for a few minutes didn't fix the issue unfortunately. I therefore tried the solution Koalar suggested and it worked a treat! The dials read true again just like before.

Huge thanks for all your help everyone.

 

[Yolanda]

Glad you got it sorted. Did you fit a new display unit or just tweak the needles.

 

[CupCakes]

Glad you got it sorted. Did you fit a new display unit or just tweak the needles.

Just adjusted the needles, display was and is fine

One thing though, don't touch the speedo needle unless necessary. You don't want it reading incorrectly.

 

[Yolanda]

I wonder what made it do that in the first place. I've had my battery off a couple of times and never experienced that problem.

 

[koalar]

I wonder what made it do that in the first place. I've had my battery off a couple of times and never experienced that problem.

low volts to the body computer post one faulty battery

Although slightly different I have had the gauges go berserk and bang off the stops as I have cranked the engine over on a dynamic with dead battery cells

disconnecting and connecting a battery isn't normally any problem at all.

 

[CupCakes]

low volts to the body computer post one faulty battery

Although slightly different I have had the gauges go berserk and bang off the stops as I have cranked the engine over on a dynamic with dead battery cells

disconnecting and connecting a battery isn't normally any problem at all.

That almost exactly what happened.
When I tried turning it over the needles went all over the place bouncing up and down. Maybe they somehow moved on the axles.

Interestingly, the battery was and is fine and the alternator is working correctly too so I'm still not completely sure what the issue was.