I have had a replacement fuel and temp gauge in my prelude for about 2 years now. But.... ever since i installed it i have always had this problem.

My first gauge actually burnt up and completely melted... it melted the entire engine light assembly and fried everything. the gauge was actually kind of sparkly when it was happening like a sparkler....lol i thought i was going to @#$% myself driving home one night when my dash started smoking i got out and ran haha i didn't know what was happening.

The new gauge works great, when it actually lights up. Most of the time, it will light up just a tiny bit not enough to really read the gauge but you can still tell theres a faint glow. Other times, the gauge lights right up perfectly and then sometimes it lights up part of it and takes about 20 minutes to fully light up. Other times... it will work for a few days beautifully.

What would cause this? The only thing i can think of that would cause this is maybe the capacitors on the board have just been worked too much over the years and just dont hold the charge enough to light up the gauges.. but thats just a guess... but i have never seen capacitors go in and out so i doubt thats the culprit.

Is there any other part of the gauge system under the dash somewhere that possibly holds and supplies power to the gauge? This technology was really high tech for the times but... it doesn't last..

to add: my original gauge did the same thing, but only rarely.

 

Just an addition to your comment, my fuel/temperature gauge sparked then smoked up before dying as well. Scared the **** out of me

 

My gauge did what yours is doing now before it burnt up, luckily I was a few blocks from work when it started so the car wasn't on long enough to damage anything else. You might want to start looking for another.

 

Well its been doing it for about 2 years and it hasn't died... actually as soon as i posted this.. first time it came on in days and it hasn't messed up once since then... wierd.. "shrugs"

 

Hmm im starting to think its the capacitors. Im going to take it apart and solder some new ones on.