1998 Buick Park Avenue fuel gauge

TODDBENDER

MEMBER
1998 BUICK PARK AVENUE
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
190,000 MILES

Fuel gauge needle is stuck on the wrong side of the gauge stop. Must have gotten a reverse current through it to cause this problem. Altenator was recently replaced. Is there any fix to this without having to tear dash apart?

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 AT 8:39 AM

2 Replies

BLUELIGHTNIN6

MECHANIC
16,542 POSTS

Remove fuse to the gauges or remove battery cables for few minutes and replace. Gauge should go back to normal resting area.

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Monday, September 27th, 2010 AT 5:46 PM

GGRIFFIN

MEMBER
3 POSTS

A magnet will do it. Suffered the same problem with my 2000 Park Avenue, and read on a few other websites that a very powerful (40-50 lbs.)Could be held up to the clear plastic instrument shield to manipulate the needle counterclockwise back to the normal position. Tried a 20 lb. Magnet and got nowhere. Then, one day fiddling with a little telescopic magnetic pickup tool, I found I could move the needle - by aiming at the base of the needle, not the tip - but not enough to swing the needle around.

Went to Home Depot and bought a package of 8 round, quarter sized magnets (about 3 bucks) that collectivelly couldn't have pulled more than about 3 lbs, stacked them, aimed at the base of the needle, and it swung around easily and quickly.

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Saturday, January 8th, 2011 AT 7:53 PM