Why Did My Porsche Fuel Meter Suddenly Stop Working?
A fuel meter that is not working is not only annoying but it forces you to keep track of how many miles you drive after a refill of fuel so as to prevent you from running out of fuel. While it may not affect the performance of your engine, it may cause you a huge inconvenience when you run out of fuel and the meter is giving a reading that is far from empty. Here are some of the reasons behind a faulty fuel meter.
Circuit Problems
The battery and the sending unit are connected to the gas gauge by a gas gauge circuit. This simply means the fuel meter may stop working solely because of compromised or faulty wiring. The wires running from the fuel pump to the fuel gauge may be corroded or the insulation worn out. Replacing the faulty wire is your best solution here.
Blown-out Fuses
A fuel meter that is not working may also be as a result of blown-out fuses. You should check for any fuses that may be blown out from the fuse box and replace them with new ones. This is what you should check first as it is the most common cause of a faulty fuel meters. If you fix it and the fuel meter is still not working, then you may as well go ahead and check the sending unit or the fuel gauge.
Sending Unit Failure
The sending unit is responsible for sending signals to the dashboard indicating the level of fuel in your tank. While driving your Porsche, the sending unit is in constant motion meaning that it rubs off against the variable resistor. After some time the wear and tear causes a break in the circuit. Due to this, the gas gauge may interpret the change in voltage as either full or empty despite the actual level of fuel. To test the fuel sending unit, you can fill the fuel tank and use a multimeter to test for resistance. If you find out that the resistance reading is different from what is indicated in the manual, the sending unit has malfunctioned.
Faulty Fuel Gage
The gas gauge is what you read on your dashboard that tells you how much fuel you have left in your tank. It is less likely that your fuel gauge will fail, but then again it is not impossible. Most of the times issues in the fuel gauge stem from receiving input from the fuel sending unit or circuit problems. However a proper diagnosis should be performed in order to establish whether the fuel gauge is faulty.
Instrument Cluster Failure
Instrument cluster is a fancy way of saying dashboard indicators. It includes the fuel gauge, speedometer and odometer. As much as it may be the least likely cause of a failing fuel meter, it is the most expensive to fix. The reason behind this is that most modern Porsche models have fully integrated instrument clusters. This means that if one of the indicators is faulty, the entire unit has to be replaced so as to fix the problem. However, most cars have warranties for problems associated with the instrument cluster.