13 replies to this topic

[iambhooper]

Over the winter, I have spent some time working on some of the wiring.... particularly the on off switch, starter button, ect. In the process, I had the dash cluster out. I did not touch any of the wiring to it.

Fast forward a month, and I had everything back in and working. Today we loaded up the car and took it to the Shriner's annual hot rod show (something the local SCCA does every year). I noticed that even though I had put 5 gallons of fuel in the car, it was showing 1/8 and the temp never rose much. Once at the coliseum, with the car off the trailer, I noticed that none of the factory gauges were working in the cluster... and then the car just died. I was able to restart it, but it was difficult and then did the same again.

It has spark, fuel and air... but that doesn't explain the dash. Am I missing something obvious?

Thanks!
hoop

[davew]

Look at everything you took apart. You probably forgot to reconnect the 3 connectors under the passenger side of the dash. Near the blower motor housing

dave

[Glenn]

Look at everything you took apart. You probably forgot to reconnect the 3 connectors under the passenger side of the dash. Near the blower motor housing

dave

What Dave said!.....

[iambhooper]

so we got the car back to the shop, and while I didn't have enough time to go searching for that, I did pull the cluster off. I noticed that the printed contact's where kind of curling back and may have some difficulty making contact with the plug behind the speedo. is it possible that could be the culprit?

[DES4]

Voltage and voltage drop checks. Everything else beyond that is just conjecture...

[iambhooper]

hopefully I'll have a little time to look around wednesday evening.

[iambhooper]

I spent a few good hours working on it last nite. It appears that the gauge problem was all related to a bad cluster. I pulled the entire dash (expecting to work on wiring) and then hooked up the existing cluster. Nothing worked. I swapped out the cluster with a spare and everything except the factory oil pressure gauge seemed to work fine.

I know I shouldn't be concerned about the factory cluster, but I just don' t have the time or spare funds to build cluster or digital dash at the moment. As for why the car stalled, I may just chalk that up to the cold weather.

Now, I still have to get the aftermarket electrical water temp gauge to work. I installed it and get seem to get any reading. It's running from a sensor in the front coolant hose and when I reverse the leads it does peg. So I must assume it's not getting a signal, right?

[David S.]

I'm not sure how your water temp sending unit works, but with my oil pressure sending unit on my last car the body of the sender had to be grounded. If it was screwed into the block it grounded there but mine was mounted on the firewall so I put a hose clamp around it and attached one of those wire ends with an eyelet to the screw in the clamp. Maybe check into that?

[Glenn]

I'm not sure how your water temp sending unit works, but with my oil pressure sending unit on my last car the body of the sender had to be grounded. If it was screwed into the block it grounded there but mine was mounted on the firewall so I put a hose clamp around it and attached one of those wire ends with an eyelet to the screw in the clamp. Maybe check into that?

What David said, you need to ground the fitting

[Randy Thieme]

I spent a few good hours working on it last nite. It appears that the gauge problem was all related to a bad cluster. I pulled the entire dash (expecting to work on wiring) and then hooked up the existing cluster. Nothing worked. I swapped out the cluster with a spare and everything except the factory oil pressure gauge seemed to work fine.

I know I shouldn't be concerned about the factory cluster, but I just don' t have the time or spare funds to build cluster or digital dash at the moment. As for why the car stalled, I may just chalk that up to the cold weather.

Now, I still have to get the aftermarket electrical water temp gauge to work. I installed it and get seem to get any reading. It's running from a sensor in the front coolant hose and when I reverse the leads it does peg. So I must assume it's not getting a signal, right?

I have an electrical water temp gauge and it takes a while to register. If the thermostat is still in takes even longer.

[Dave Lewis]

Move the sender. Mine is where the "cursed water plug" used to be. Back of the head close to where the ECU gets it's info.

[iambhooper]

the sender is located in a collar in the front upper hose.  this is where my mechanical one was located.  i will try the ground and see how that works. me thinks i should have stayed with a mechanical unit.

[iambhooper]

so I tried the ground and it didn't seem to help.  someone at the shop recommended remove the silicone tape from the fitting's  still nothing.  next up, i will try to relocate my ground and see if that makes a difference. 

 

worst case, I have the stock unit working, so that could get me through the next race.

[David S.]

Any chance you could get some pictures and a link to the actual sensor you are using (preferably with wiring diagram)?