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Hi Guys and Girls, I've recently purchased a MKIV Polo1.4 CL, (S Reg) Open Air, in Dragon green with 73K on the clock... I'm pretty pleased with it, (as I only paid 1800 quid for it) with the exception of 2 problems, the frst of which I knew about on purchase.

Petrol gauge wont work at all. Its not dead, but it sits at a 1/4 tank all the time... And when you turn the engine on or off, you can hear a ticking noise, kinda like a kids wind-up toy... The needle on the gauge 'shakes' in time with the ticking noise... I've managed to take the gauge cluster out, and look round the back, expecting to see a loose wire or something obvious... Nope!! just one computer cable, and a whole load of printed circuit board!! Any ideas what the problem could be??

My other problem is that the Gearbox has a slight leak... I keep going to the car to find a puddle about the size of a CD on the road. The liquid is relatively fresh looking gearbox oil... I've managd to trace the leak to the seal that goes around the selector shaft, round the back of the 'box. I was wondering if this is an expensve fix??

Any info, or experiences would be greatfully recieved. Whilst I am new to the world of POLOs ,I have had a MK2 Golf GTI, which I did a fair bit of maintenance on, and a Mini before that, which was always going wrong, o hopefully, I'll be able to fix it...

Thanks,

Matt

What a co-insidence, i had this prob this morning. Mine was the fuse. So i rushed to halfords to get these blade type fuses. Open up the neat door underneath the drivers footwell (below steering) and remove door. Take off the cover off the fuse box and take out the 3rd fuse (5amp). I replaced this and it works fine.

My car had that exact leak on its gearbox, around the selector rod. A mechanic worked on it for about 45 minutes as I stood there chatting. The part is only 3 quid, you need a new seal. Plus, a load of box fluid as it'll drain out when you replace the seal. It's not something you want to forget about fixing, you do need that oil in the box. Fortunately it's cheap!

Good luck.

Thanks for the reply Speedlaw... Thats reassuring at least!!

AKs_SlickPolo: I've checked the fuses and all is well I'm afraid... I suppose if the fuse had blown, the gauge wouldn't read anything at all - but mine is kind of juddering and ticking on startup and when turning the engine off - I'm fearing that its a new gauge cluster at the moment... and that won't be cheap at all!

CANUCK wrote:I'm fearing that its a new gauge cluster at the moment... and that won't be cheap at all!

I will have a spare instrument cluster for sale once I finish my blue red dial conversion - if thats any use?

I would be very interested in that mate... Do you reckon it might work? I've got this feeling that it isn't the sender unit, at the tank end...

CANUCK wrote:I would be very interested in that mate... Do you reckon it might work? I've got this feeling that it isn't the sender unit, at the tank end...

Well thats the first thing I'd check......

Should be two connections two the sender unit - feed and return

* caution electrics is NOT my speciality * So I'd appreciate any nods or shakes of the head from others on the forum regarding what I have said

If you use a bit of wire to bridge the two terminals on the plug it should send the dash display up to max with the ignition on.

This will indicate that the dash itself is not at fault

If it does this then the following will be usefull

In the tank is a variable resistance track that the float arm travels along varying the amount of voltage returned - the tracks can get gummed up or corroded and send an intermitant signal so it's sender out and clean it all up

Easy job on a polo Don't even have to drain the tank

Cheers dude, I'll have a look at the sender first!

SO, I've just had the Gearbox leak done by my garage... only cost 35 quid... Marvellous!!

The downside though... My front brakes are worn, and I needed new discs and pads... This car is costing me a fair bit already!!