"Check Gauges" light is on -- Why?

[meissen]

Hey guys,

Does anyone know the exact reasons for the "Check Gauges" light coming on? The new gauges keep coming up with Check Gauges immediately and I don't know where to really troubleshoot it. All the gauges seem to work correctly, I've checked fuse 7 and fuse 9, all fuses are OK. Could it come on if the fuse for the airbags is pulled out? Hmm, I dunno -- does anyone know what could cause it to come on?

[badinfluence]

how much gas do you have in the tank?

"check gauges" comes on when you have low fuel

[meissen]

Haha, really? That's strange. I'll try putting some fuel in there for giggles. The fuel gauge is reading over half but I thought it was less than that... maybe the fuel gauge is off. I can only imagine being low on fuel and the Check Gauges light coming on.. I'd be like oh great now what's wrong with the car, I'd never think Oh I'm low on fuel.

[00firebird]

yeah if its not the fuel then its probably something to do with that clusterf-k of wires you have ripped out everywhere i use the check gauges light to know when to fill up.. should come on when you have about two gallons left.

[meissen]

Does the Check Gauges light come on if there's anything wrong elsewhere in the electrical? Does it throw any sort of code if scanned with a reader?

[ITSSLOW]

The only time I've had "Check Gauges" come on is when the fuel is low. It would always come in my brother's Cavalier after anything less than 3/4 tank. It was a faulty sending unit. He wasn't going to replace the sending unit when he could just go by miles. He lived with it for over 6 months before totaling the car.

[MikeCio1]

nope it just means check your gauges...low fuel, oil pressure, temp...

[meissen]

Hrm... the weird part is all the gauges were normal. Tach was good, speedo seemed about right, temp was good, oil pressure was good, although the battery meter was reading like 10v in the red..

[DETROITMUSCLE]

the light will come on when your battery is dead or near it in my experience.

[meissen]

Aha, that very well could be it. I haven't thrown the charger on it in awhile. It starts, but I know it's not charged up. I guess I was thinking the Check Gauges was more of a bad ground to the gauges or faulty wiring more than it meaning something along the lines of standard maintenance to the car. I'll have to go through and do the basics... charge the battery, maybe I'll drive it up to the Marathon on the corner and fill her with a full tank of gas and see how the gas gauge reads... if it does the same thing that my 94 did and reads like 1/4th past the full line, I'll yank that needle right off and put it at the full mark so when it hits empty it'll really have a handful of gallons left.

[MikeCio1]

Hrm... the weird part is all the gauges were normal. Tach was good, speedo seemed about right, temp was good, oil pressure was good, although the battery meter was reading like 10v in the red..

Battery meter in red...
In my biz we call that a clue

[meissen]

Haha yeah well I'm so used to seeing that on the old gauges that I didn't think much of it. Especially since the car has been sitting in the garage all winter. Something seems to drain the battery -- be it the alternator when it's running or wiring somewhere in the car. My dad even wonders if the LEDs I put into the map lights and the dome lights are causing a constant low draw on the battery.

[LS1Phoenix]

I still say what's wrong when that light comes on b/c of low fuel. I rarely let it get that low so I don't see the light often. That gas drops so fast after is passes half tank...damn heavy foot. It could also just be the gauge cluster, if it isn't from the same year your car is it could have faulty signals.

[00firebird]

put a volt meter/ multi meter on your battery see if its got any juice.. normal reading should be around 12

[CHMLEON]

A low Batt voltage will cause the light to trip since under normal running circumstances the alternator will keep the voltage at 12+ volts.

If your engine was running when the light was on then it could be you alternator going bad. This happened to me when my alternator when out in my bird.

If the engine was not running then the check gauges light was probably due to a drained battery, if your fuel was at an acceptable level.

If the battery voltage was at 12+ and our fuel was at an acceptable level, then I would start to assume that it is a wiring conflict of bad signal.