Temp & Fuel Gauge Replacement

[Steve T]

My fuel and temp gauges have started to fall apart, the front bezel has come away from the main body and the face is now leaning backwards (falling inside the dash as nothing to press against).

I have the original gauges from 2006 roadsport (pictured).

Assuming I am not going to touch the senders, is my only choice to replace with the same model Caterham gauge or do any/all of the Caterham gauges work with the same senders?

I noticed that they do about 3 or 4 various types from different years so question is really can I buy some newer ones and use the current senders or will they be different spec?

 

[Jonathan Kay]

Private Message sent yesterday. 

[DennisA]

There is definitely a problem with these Caerbont gauges. I've had it happen with the oil pressure gauge & happened again with one I bought a spare off ebay. Not sure if it is vibration or heat that causes the casing to fracture. If you have a clean break you can superglue it back together as a temporary fix, suggest buying new O rings for re-fitting.

New gauges from Caterham are expensive, if they have them in stock. Not sure if more recent ones are prone to fracturing.

 

[Mark w]

Have you spoken to Caerbont about refurbing them ?

They repaired one of mine ( 6 years old ) for a very reasonable £0 .

OK i did have a particularly special case ( turns out mine was a pre production prototype ) but they were really helpful .

Only down side was that they were working on a 6-8 week turnaround recently - maybe that wont matter if the car is laid up over the winter ...

[Alan Reeves]

Ive had 3 broken ones including hand me downs. I spoke to Caerbont about refurb and they sold me new at a lot less than CC

i woukld just call them, 

[Steve T]

Thanks for the advice, I will give them a call, I have new O rings already, it was on my list of jobs. Does anyone know if any of the more recent design Caterham gauges work with the same senders or will they expecting different resistance senders?

[Steve T]

One more question, maybe a daft one as I am not familiar with gauge evolution, are any of the newer stepper motor (Caterham or Stack for example) gauges compatible with the current temp and fuel senders - are they calibrateable (is that a word) and a direct swap? I have a feeling the fuel one may be butnot sure about the temp. I did get a reply from Caerbont but they have a 6 week lead time to supply replacements so looking for alternatives.

[Mark w]

Steve 

if you buy a good quality aftermarket gauge from the likes of SPA it will come with its own dedicated wiring loom and sender , only that way do you know the two components are matched and the circuit between them isn't picking up additional circuit resistance that interferes with the correct reading .

if you buy an unmatched gauge then your into trying different senders , hit and miss , most use similar resistance profiles but not all . There are gauge wizards on the market that can adjust ( only increase ) resistance to match the two . 

Even the CC gauges and senders are not always matched , I've just had Caerbont change the calibration of a temperature gauge so that it would correctly read !!!

[Baggiebird]

I have just changed a fuel gauge on a 1996 car.  The face had cracked away from the body.  I thought it may have been overtightened in the dash at some point.  I also changed O rings on several gauges.

Caerbont were able to supply a compatible gauge which fitted and were extremely helpful.

I was disappointed the original had failed but then 23 years old, vibration and the plastic and the rubber O ring had aged, as expected.

[Steve T]

Hi, I am able to get replacements from Caerbont but their lead time is about 6 weeks but it looks like the only answer so will have to wait patiently unless anyone has any spare unused ones I could borrow in the meantime until my new ones arrive.