Changed out my fuel filter.
(Unhooked the neg battery post to do so.)

Happy and done, I get in to start the car and

I'll be danged if the fuel gauge needle hasn't done gone and flopped over and is now dangling straight down.

When I put the key in, it tries to go up but is blocked by the needle rest.

How the heck do I fix that?

"done gone and flopped down"
LMAO
more importantly how the heck did that happen?
Mine just quit working after all the fill ups I do. when full it shoots down to empty. I would imagine you would have to remove the cluster cover to get to that puppy...

My guess was reconnecting the battery might have caused momentary voltage fluctuations?

Or did running the car with fuel pump relay off, opening up the fuel line, cursing at the plastic "quick" connect umm..goose it?

This is not an uncommon problem, if you do a search on thsi forum you will get
some hints on how others fixed the problem.

A good investment is one of them little goodies you plug in the cigar lighter that a 9 volt battery powers and your computer will hold the settings when you disconnect the battery.

I found them at JC Whitney

Changed out my fuel filter.
(Unhooked the neg battery post to do so.)

Happy and done, I get in to start the car and

I'll be danged if the fuel gauge needle hasn't done gone and flopped over and is now dangling straight down.

When I put the key in, it tries to go up but is blocked by the needle rest.

How the heck do I fix that? Mine also did this due to a surge when I replaced the battery. Take a small piece of soft steel wire, and work through the hole for the trip reset, you can flip it back.

I Had The Same Problem...used A Paper Clip To Slip In To The Reset But And Flipped It Back Over....

I've had the same thing happen, and after a few miles/restarts, it seemed to "fix" itself.

Thanks. I'll try that this weekend.

This happened to me also and I believe it was because I had the key in the "on" position when reconnecting the battery???

When you reconnect the battery the gauges spike back up to let you know its functioning. Sometimes if you are trying to screw it in and it doesn't catch the threading it will pulse twice. Its happened to me countless times. lol. :banghead:

Anyways. Here is what you do. Take a flat head screw driver, a smaller phillips head and a 8mm socket with an extension. And a magnet wand if you got one.

Use the flat head to pry gently up on the trim that runs across the dash.

Use the phillips and take out the 2 screws on the upper part of the dash infront of the cluster. If you look up there you will see them.

Once that is up, disconect the wires for the dimmer switch/fog lights and the hazard switch.

Then squeeze the trim out gently.

Use the 8mm socket with wrench and extension, there are 4 bolts in the corners of the cluster. Take them out. Watch out, the lower ones will fall easy. You do not want those in your dash. lol.

Remove the cluster and disconnect the harness going to it. Its a pain to squeeze it out, but it works.

Once you got it out, you will see about 4-6 little ears holding the clear plastic cover on. Pop those up, remove the "glass" then spin the dial back over with your finger. There is no gear. Now they move easy so be careful as to which way you turn it, or it will just go right back.

Now, the tricky part. Putting it back in with out flipping the gauge upside down again.

Pop the plastic glass back on

plug the connector in, turn the cluster side ways work it back in there might have to push up lightly on the dash piece.

Get it back in and line her up. If you have a magnetic wand use it for this, if not be careful. Screw back in the 4 8mm screws.

Connect the harness' for the hazard switch and dimmer switch.
Push the trim piece back in. Line up the clips so you don't break them.

Put the screws back in on the upper portion of the trim to the center upper part of dash.

Flick the cluster off and be happy!


jk don't do that. Or it will set off lights or something to begin a new project. lol.

I think the easiest way to fix this is to get a paperclip from your junk drawer and bend it in a way to fit it through the trip reset hole and flip it back to where it belongs. Alot faster and easier than pullint the whole dash apart. My 2 cents woth.