RustyButTrusty Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 (edited) Here recently my tachometer has been acting up. I noticed while driving one day the needle just dropped down to 0, stayed there for a while, and then started working just fine again. This happens every now and then and it seems to be totally random, and sometimes stays not working for a while and sometimes not long at all. I took the instrument cluster out and checked all the connections and the screws that hold the tach to the plastic case and circuit board. Based on the wiring diagram I have the tach gets its signal from the coil? I checked these connections too and they were clean and tight, so I'm not sure of really what else to check. Any thoughts greatly appreciated, thanks! Edited January 7, 2012 by RustyButTrusty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddoc Posted January 7, 2012 Share Posted January 7, 2012 From what I got out of the wiring diagram, the Tach gets a signal from the coil through a resistor pack which should be at 2.2k Ohms resistance, being intermittent it sounds like loose connection somewhere, or a busted wire that looses contact. It could also be the gauge itself having internal problems, if the resistor is good, and all the connections are clean and tight, then i would start with the gauge. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyButTrusty Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 Thanks! I'll check this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 I had that issue with the connector on the distributor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 There is also a ground wire on there, which sometimes gets lost somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted January 8, 2012 Share Posted January 8, 2012 The single wire up front? That gave me problems the most Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyButTrusty Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Oh so the tach has a connection to the distributor as well? And where is this ground/single wire you mentioned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Not sure on 2 doors because the distributor is a little different but look around the housing and you will see either a metal tab sticking out or a wire connected to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyButTrusty Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Okay I found the wire you were talking about, and the wire itself was just about to break off from the plastic connecter. So I fixed it, but the tach still worked on and off with it unplugged, and I'm still having the same problems with the repaired wire. I'm just curious as to where actually the tach receives it's signal from? I'm thinking the issue is with whatever sends the signal, because the tach never jumps or reads incorrectly it just seems to loose the signal from the wire and then eventually get it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 That wire really doesn't do anything. The signal wire for the tach is white and comes from the resistor, as was said above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyButTrusty Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Okay thanks for clearing that up. So I found the connector that goes to what I think is the resistor pack which has four wires including the white wire. I wasn't sure which other wire besides the white wire to hook my meter up to to test resistance, so I tested the other 3 and against the white one and the only resistance reading I got was 1,460 ohms between the white wire and the blk/white wire below it (as seen in the crude diagram below). So the resistance is supposed to be 2.2k ohms? Since my reading is not 2.2k or really all that close I'm guessing my resistor pack may possibly be causing the issue then? White Blk/white Blk/white Blue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyButTrusty Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 Okay what I was looking at earlier wasn't the resistor. My resistor was all taped up to where I couldn't see it, so I was able to test it and it appears to be good as the resistance is right at 2.2k ohms. I'm thinking my gauge must be on the brink. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddoc Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Okay what I was looking at earlier wasn't the resistor. My resistor was all taped up to where I couldn't see it, so I was able to test it and it appears to be good as the resistance is right at 2.2k ohms. I'm thinking my gauge must be on the brink. Thank you! If it was me I would replace the gauge. Sounds like everything else is working Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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