Help please, electrical problems with 1993 ford escort esta

[Essexescort95]

So I recently brought a escort estate 1.8 for spares or repairs but I am hoping to get it back on the road in the near future.
After trying to start it for a few hours and bleeding the engine I realised that the fuel gauge is stuck on half tank but I realised the tank is empty, also the temperature gauge is stuck on 1/4 , I looked at all of the fuses and none are blown, I don't really know much about car electrics so any help or suggestions would really be appreciated.
The two in car lights work on the on setting but on the setting where they only come on when the door is open neither of them come on and the switch on the door area isn't stuck in, might be related to gauges?
Thanks for reading

[PhillipM]

Probably an earth issue, I'm not 100% 'cause it's been a long time since I looked at an escort that old, but I think there's one in the footwell that does the gauges and most of the interior electricals.

[littlebasher]

That pretty much sums up how mine used to be - i was forever running out of fuel as a result

Required new gauges in mine to sort it

[Oldred_V8S]

Sender unit?

You can earth the lead to sender to see if the gauge reacts differently.