Today’s Case: Seat Ibiza 2016 – Fuel Gauge Not Working

Driving around with no idea how much fuel is left is stressful and risky.
Today’s patient was a 2016 Seat Ibiza with a dead fuel gauge (the LED bar) and a range display showing nothing but dashes.

The customer came well prepared:

“My diagnostic tool says fuel sender resistance too high,” he said.

We don’t use diagnostic tools as there’s no need to, but he continues:

“In VCDS measuring blocks it shows 510 Ohms.”

That reading is just the maximum value in modern VAG cars – it doesn’t tell us what’s wrong, only that no fuel sender is connected.

This customer, however, went further than most:

“I measured the resistance at the fuel sender in the fuel pump – it’s around 280 Ohms.”
“Then I measured the same at the wiring loom behind the cluster.”

That’s exactly how to do it. With 280 Ohms reaching the cluster plug, the diagnosis was clear. The customer was invited to send the cluster in for repair.

Then came the twist:

“A friend of mine, who’s a good car electrician, said it’s still probably a wiring issue – I just wanted your opinion.”

No, absolutely not! You’ve done the test, and the logic is simple.
If there’s 280 Ohms at the cluster plug but the gauge still doesn’t respond, the fault is inside the instrument cluster.
Electronics are digital – either the current flows or it doesn’t. Something is either working or not. There are no “maybes” or “possibly”. At Totaltronics, we work from evidence, not opinion.

After a quick diagnosis on the bench, and then the repair, the fuel gauge was fully operational again, and the range display came back to life.

Instrument cluster repaired – another happy customer.

Fuel gauge faults are rarely caused by the cluster itself. In most cases, the issue lies with the wiring or fuel sender, but diagnosing it is very simple.
The sender is just a potentiometer, easily tested with a basic £10 multimeter.

For customers unable to test the sender, Totaltronics can check the cluster on the bench, and in most cases, there’s no charge for testing.

It’s worth noting that VAG clusters (Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda) are more prone to failure when:

• The car has been in an accident

• Someone has welded improperly

• Wiring has been tampered with

At Totaltronics, we don’t guess – we diagnose.
Whether it’s a simple fault or a complex intermittent issue, we find the root cause, repair it properly, and make sure it works the first time.