new jimny owner, fuel gauge issues and a few other questions

Hi, just registered.
I have just bought my wife a jimny for her first car. It has a few issues but nothing major. Its a 1999 1.3.
It had a missfire that was flashing the engine light but I seem to have fixed that.
It has a hole in the boot floor where the jack goes but as I just spent 6 months making panels and welding them into my old bedford im not worried about that.
What is annoying me if the fuel fauge. Should it go back to zero when the ignition is turned off? It doesnt. I put some fuel in and tha gauge seemed to do something but its hard to tell. Its stuck just under half way.
Do the gauges fail? Fixable? How do I get the dash cluster out to check, do I have to remove the whole dashboard?
Could it be the sender? How do you get to it?

Things would be alot easier with a manual but I cant find one.

I have 2 clocks, neither work. Wiring all checks out. Are they a common failure?

It has a bit of bumpsteer but there is loads of info on here about that kind of thing so we can ignore that for now.

The steering wheel foam has detached from the metal inner. what year wheels will interchange? 2 horn buttons if that matters. Common fault?

Its also missing the plastic trim to the rear end of the passenger roof bar, cant seem to find another. The roof bars look to have changed a couple of times, again, what years am I looking for?

Apart from that, a little rear engine oil leak and a couple of coolant weeps its fine.
I was concerned about its suitability as a first car but its soooo easy to drive/manouver/park im sure she will be fine.

Fuel guage reads the level when switched off...so that's normal.

You have 2 clocks? I have one...below the radio.....or do you mean the binnacle?

The tool well is available as a repair panel from jimnybits.....saves time.

Jimny is a fine first car.....have fun!

My Spanish built soft top's fuel gauge goes back to zero/empty when the ignition is switched off.

Ok, so one vote for fuel gauge should go to zero and one vote it reads fuel level even with ignition off.

The car is at a friends yard and will stay there untill it is given to my wife as a surprise when she passes.
Unfortunately this means I cant drive it around to see how the fuel gauge reacts over a period of time.

Oh, by 2 clocks I mean one in the dash that doesnt work and one in the glovebox which came with it that also doesn't work. As I say, wiring checks out and no obvious circuit board issues when I took the clocks apart.
Minor issue but would be nice to fix one day.

I saw the jack area panel, £90 ish! Not much less than the whole boot floor.
No ta, ill make the panel myself.

My 04 tin top fuel gauge shows level with ignition off

Jack

Tin top will be Japanese built car.

What do you mean by tin top being japanese built and what difference does it make to the fuel gauge issue?

I assume there are 2 countries of manufacture then?
Will they operate differently between the two?
My car is tin top.

Rag top is Spanish Tin is Japanese.

Try a leather stitch on steering wheel cover....works wonders!

2 engines in jombobs single and twin cam....early one like yours could be either....rag top is usually single cam.

Mine is g13bb. Single cam I believe.

whitfield wrote: Ok, so one vote for fuel gauge should go to zero and one vote it reads fuel level even with ignition off.

The car is at a friends yard and will stay there untill it is given to my wife as a surprise when she passes.
Unfortunately this means I cant drive it around to see how the fuel gauge reacts over a period of time.

Mine (and most analogue ones I had for example Vitara and Mitsy) stayed as is. If you can't use fuel try adding a gallon from a can.

My fuel gauge stays up at the last indicated level with the ignition off.
It also takes a long time (with the ignition on) to register the new level after I add fuel.

I generally regard fuel gauges as "indication only" and just zero the A-Trip when I fill up, then refill about 180-200 miles later