Fuel and Temp gauges

[bobbarker]

My car has an aftermarket fan and wired to a switch in the cabin. If I get stuck in traffic and the engine begins to warm up I will throw the switch, and it can cool the car down very quickly. Problem is when I throw the switch for some reason the temp gauge and fuel gauge will shoot straight up to hot and past a full tank of gas instantly, and slowly come back down to the right range. The car never over heats. I can be at 1/4 tank of gas, and the temp switch will just start climbing (past the L in NORMAL) and the fuel gauge will climb right along with it... I tap on the gauge cluster cover/lense and it will start to drop back down to an acurate reading... any suggestions for what's going on with this? I'm sure a new temp sensor may help, but why in the world would the fuel gauge be following it up and down?

[Stinger]

Normally gauge issues like that indicate some sort of ground problem.

[bobbarker]

hrmm. I took the dash out a few months ago to paint it, and put everything back in right... but this problem didn't start until recently, and it worked fine for ~2 months after reinstalling the dash. Just started I think a week ago or somewhere close to that. I'll try to track down all the wires and see if there is a ground problem and report back!