Crazy Acting Gauges In The 68

[Lostsheep]

I found another thread that talked about the voltage limiter maybe being the issue for my problem. But not 100%.

Long and short. The car likes to get hot at idle. It got hot and wouldnt cool down on the highway (which is very much not like my car) Trusting my gauges I pulled over at a gas station to cool it off. My gauge was at the 210 or higher mark. Seemingly got it cooled off and headed home. Notice my other gauges appeared to all be pointing to the right, rather uniformly. So I decided to flip on the headlights to see if it would draw away from the gauges. As I thought, as soon as I hit the lights, ALL of the gauges buried themselves to the left. Just to make sure, I flipped the lights off and they started to climb back to the right. Any other ideas?

Knowing some of the horror stories about the wiring in these cars. I got home and disconnected the battery.

[acelondon]

Good idea to pull the battery. Nothing worse the a fire in a car you can't replace. I'd Know.

Id start with a good flash light under the dash. Look for any melted wires.

If you dont find any problems, check you voltage at the battery with the car off, at idle, and at ~2500RPM. Post them here for the guys to look over.

Then do the same at the ACC terminal on your fusebox. I believe that's a regulated output(mods )

If your seeing anything over 14.5volts, and then under 12 with the lights on, i'd change the regulator. Regs fail in strange ways. Like high voltage at low load, then very low voltage at high load. Sounds just like your problem.

If that dosen't fix it, get your alternator tested.

[Lostsheep]

Sweet...I'll do that tomorrow. Thx

[Sublime/Sixpack]

You may want to check your ammeter connections under the dash. Make sure they are clean and tight.

[Lostsheep]

I checked the voltage at the battery. I didnt get to the fuse box yet, wanted to see if this told us anything first. I did notice that the guages were acting normal.

12.4V with car off
12.2V with key on
14.5V @ idle
14.3V with fan on
14.8V to 14.9V @ 2500 rpm
It slowly climbed from the 14.3V to the 14.8V/14.9V @ 2500 rpm rev

[A383Wing]

Check your ground connection from the rear of the head to the firewall....I lost my ground there and all the gauges started to rise to the top when I stepped on the brake...

Just another suggestion

[acelondon]

Voltages arn't too bad. Start checking grounds.

Mods agree?

[A383Wing]

Another thought here...could be the gauge voltage limiter needs replacing, I would suggest putting the electronic style in. This is not the one under the hood, this is the little one that plugs into the rear of the dash. I used to build the electronic ones here, but there is a company out there that does it also. RTE specialties I think.

[Lostsheep]

Would this be the correct voltage limiter?

http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/fbshopmain2.asp?input=voltage+limiter&SM=1&SC=1

[y3chargerrt]

90 bucks??? Get the electronic one for 50.

[A383Wing]

90 bucks??? Get the electronic one for 50.

Yea...what he said

[resq302]

Wow thats a lot of money for that thing.  I ended up converting ours in our 70 chally from the points style to the electronic style and cost me about $5 in parts from my local Radio Shack.  I think moparts.com has a thread on how to convert them yourself.

[A383Wing]

Yes..I built them from my house and sold them for $35 I think.......but for those who are "electrically challenged"...the $50 version is the way to go.

[y3chargerrt]

The RTE electronic is much more then a 7805 regulator and resistor.

[A383Wing]

The RTE electronic is much more then a 7805 regulator and resistor.

Yes...thus the reason it's $50 well spent if said persons cannot build their own

[Lostsheep]

So y'all are saying NOT to buy this booger? This is the one that is $39. Im not finding RTE Specialties on the web.

[A383Wing]

http://rt-eng.com/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page

Here is the main page....sorry, it was RT Engineering....

Bryan

[Lostsheep]

Thank you!!

So this is the bad boy I need....

http://rt-eng.com/mediawiki/index.php/RTE_ABlimiter

[Dans 68]

 

Dan

[Lostsheep]

Very cool!!! THX