Ongoing gauge woahs...
04-27-2011, 09:24 PM
#1
TECH Apprentice
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Lincoln, NE
Posts: 393
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ongoing gauge woahs... So a while ago I installed 6LE overlays over my gauges. Since then, the gauges have never been the same. I set the needles that I could (speedometer and tach) and thought the others were good (except fuel which would never, ever, ever set right). Every time I push the gas needle in it snaps back to around 3/4 and it stays there until it gets below that level and starts reading right. 
But that's besides the point. I had the two major ones good to go and went to button it all back together. After I did that, I drove it the next day and noticed that the speedometer and tach jumped a lot. For example, when I push in the clutch, the tach doesn't drop immediately, it hangs for a couple seconds. And when I am accelerating it looks like the needles are getting caught on something and jump in increments. In the end they are in the ball park while cruising, but obviously, my tach jumping is a huge issue, especially when getting on it hard as I have hit the limiter a couple of times because I didn't know. Any ideas on how to remedy this? It's frustrating the crap out of me and I have nitrous and some goodies I want to put on but don't want this to be what holds me back.
But that's besides the point. I had the two major ones good to go and went to button it all back together. After I did that, I drove it the next day and noticed that the speedometer and tach jumped a lot. For example, when I push in the clutch, the tach doesn't drop immediately, it hangs for a couple seconds. And when I am accelerating it looks like the needles are getting caught on something and jump in increments. In the end they are in the ball park while cruising, but obviously, my tach jumping is a huge issue, especially when getting on it hard as I have hit the limiter a couple of times because I didn't know. Any ideas on how to remedy this? It's frustrating the crap out of me and I have nitrous and some goodies I want to put on but don't want this to be what holds me back. 
04-28-2011, 10:28 AM
#2
Very common issues:
- You have pressed the needles on too hard/far. Back them out a bit and they will stop sticking/jumping.
- You can check your spedo's accuracy by getting a portable GPS and driving down a straight road at varying speeds. Put it in MAP mode and compare to the speedometer.
- The only way I can think of to make sure the tach is correct is to get a OBDII scan tool and read the car's reading and compare. (You could also do this with the speedo - but would be a total PITA with the car moving.)
- With the car up to operating temperature on a normal day, the temp gauge should be straight up at 210. (This gauge has special circuitry in the cluster and does NOT match the OBDII reading by design.)
- The other gauges can be confirmed like the tach, with an OBDII scanner.
For your fuel gauge, it sounds like you may have a bad sending unit in the tank?
- You have pressed the needles on too hard/far. Back them out a bit and they will stop sticking/jumping.
- You can check your spedo's accuracy by getting a portable GPS and driving down a straight road at varying speeds. Put it in MAP mode and compare to the speedometer.
- The only way I can think of to make sure the tach is correct is to get a OBDII scan tool and read the car's reading and compare. (You could also do this with the speedo - but would be a total PITA with the car moving.)
- With the car up to operating temperature on a normal day, the temp gauge should be straight up at 210. (This gauge has special circuitry in the cluster and does NOT match the OBDII reading by design.)
- The other gauges can be confirmed like the tach, with an OBDII scanner.
For your fuel gauge, it sounds like you may have a bad sending unit in the tank?
Last edited by wssix99; 04-28-2011 at 10:32 AM. Reason: forgot to clean up some garbage
04-28-2011, 10:01 PM
#4
TECH Apprentice
Thread Starter
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Lincoln, NE
Posts: 393
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yeah I did all the gauges the first time based off of my HPTuner. The gas gauge didn't do anything bad until I took the gauges out. Don't know if the sending unit would conveniently go at the same time? So just got to get it warmed up and it'll set at 210. Guess we'll have to see!
