Instrument problems?

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xtriple
Posts:17
Joined:Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:32 pm
Instrument problems?

Postby xtriple » Mon Sep 24, 2018 3:50 pm

Hello all, I have had a thread in the 'new members' section re my recently acquired V12 HE. Finally got it all back together after new thermostats and oil pressure switches and it is running again - much to my amazement.

Now the oil pressure switches DID need changing as they were leaking oil everywhere, but, changing them and doing the thermostats has made no difference to the instrument readings! However, it is now warming up enough to come off 'choke' so some slight improvement.

So my questions are: is there a likelihood of the gauges themselves being faulty? Symptoms are low readings on water temp, high reading on oil pressure, and an intermittent voltmeter. Sometimes it works, sometimes... not at all or rather, it reads very low. The warning light for the battery charge goes out as do all the other warnings.

Probably a separate issue but I have also lost the horn! I have checked and cleaned all the fuses under the drivers' side dash and other things on the same circuits are working so I assume they are okay.

Thanks for any help as 'magic string' is not my strong point! :)

poprivet

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Re: Instrument problems?

Postby poprivet » Sun Oct 07, 2018 2:45 pm

The diagram I posted here might help:
viewtopic.php?f=40&t=13171&p=71859#p71859

Quite likely to be corroded tracks on the flex connectors or bad earths. Personally I would take the instrument binnacle out and go over every connection, also a good time to replace any dodgy bulbs or upgrade to LEDs

xtriple
Posts:17
Joined:Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:32 pm

Re: Instrument problems?

Postby xtriple » Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:11 pm

Please guys, more help.

Gauges: I disconnected the wire to the oil pressure sender and turned on the ignition/started the car. I expected the oil pressure gauge to still read high indicating a fault with the gauges, however, I got no reading at all, which is correct? Does this imply the sender is still faulty? It is a new sender from David Manners and was such a sod to change, I really do not want to do it again!

Took the gauges themselves out, nothing looks wrong with them but I still took everything apart and cleaned all the connections etc, not expecting great things when they go back in. Beginning to REALLY annoy me now! Is there some sort of ballast resistor or similar on these gauge clusters? All the middle gauges read low (except the oil pressure which reads high) and if there was a ballast resistor type thing, what could explain these faults.

I have also changed the sensors for the injection coolant and the other one for the gauge. To be honest, I didn't let the car run for long enough to see if they had made a difference, but I don't expect them to have.

xtriple
Posts:17
Joined:Wed Sep 12, 2018 6:32 pm

Re: Instrument problems?

Postby xtriple » Fri Oct 19, 2018 1:03 pm

The connectors in the car were awful! Really discoloured and oxidised. I cleaned them with a fibreglass scratch pen (for watches really) and contact cleaner. Brought them up a treat :) I now seem to have a fuel gauge that reads higher, a voltmeter that climbs out of 'discharge' a temperature gauge that was well on its way to the 'N' mark. The oil pressure gauge now reads higher as well, but not what I wanted! Still goes straight to the top as soon as the ignition is turned on, it used to go about 80% of the way to the top, now hard up against the stop.

I did also put in a secondary 'earth' lead but whatever I have done (I suspect it was the multi-plugs in the car) I have a partial result of the positive kind :)


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