I recently traded my hatch for a 94 EX Coupe. The gas gauge in the coupe is either stuck on empty or there is another problem somewhere else. Is this automatically going to be an expensive repair? Anyone have this problem before?

 

Is the gas gauge the only thing thats not working? My old hatch did this once, it was because someone used the wrong fuse. Check that first. Also, the wire could have came loose on the back on the cluster. And im not 100% sure about this but there is a "ball" in your gas tank that sends a signal to your gauge. If the ball is stuck or something like that then it wont read. Someone please correct me if im wrong about the last part.

 

There are three common things that could be involved here. There are more than three obviously, but these are just the common ones.
First, it could be a gauge problem. This is likely if the gauge doesn't move at all, regardless of whether ignition power is on or off.
Second, it could be a wiring issue between the sending unit and the gauge. Again, if you have no gauge movement at all, this could be the problem.
Third, it could be the sending unit itself. These usually don't completely break, they just go bad incrementally, so you usually will have an incorrect reading on the gauge, but there will be something there.

The best thing to do would be to grab a factory manual and follow instructions for checking the sending unit, and then check the signal as close to the gauge as you can. You don't have to remove the sending unit usually, if I remember correctly, you should be able to check it at the connectors.
If you end up having a bad cluster, EX clusters are easy to get and you can get the odometers synchronized (for legality reasons) or the cluster swap documented on the title.

Don't blindly start buying or replacing things, troubleshoot first. I get sick of people swapping out parts like crazy, only to find out that the problem was unrelated and could have been found quickly with common sense and a factory manual. Any idiot can throw new parts at a problem, use your brain and prove that you can actually work on a car.

That was my rant for the day, good luck!

 

yeah thats exactly why i posted that on here because I'm not too familiar with gauges and I didnt want to make anything worse without asking for some input about it first. Well I appreciate the advice guys Thanks!

 

It's really hard to hurt something just by going through the normal troubleshooting processes, so don't be afraid. Just use your judgment and common sense.