Gauges fail and not

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Joined
Mar 7, 2013
Messages
1,281
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Location
New Jersey
My Car
1973 Mustang Convertible (Mach I Tribute)
Took Christine out for a mid winter ride after sitting for 2 months. and it took a long time for her to turn over and start (new battery), but I'm guessing she sat to long and it's been cold in NJ.

Just happened to look at the center gauges and noticed the Oil Pressure and Temp gauges weren't working while the Amp meter was working.

Obviously it pissed me off.

Got home after a 15 minute ride and thought let me try this.

Turned the car off, waited 30 seconds and started her up again and now both Oil and Temp gauges moved.

Obviously, very happy now, but what could have happened with them not working the first time out?

 
The common link for both is the output of the CVR (constant voltage regulator), which routes from the dash circuit card through the underdash harness to the 3 gauge cluster harness. Somewhere in that wiring is a bad link. My suspicion is that it is the contact at the dash cluster card to the dash cluster connector: the weakest link.

I presume your fuel gauge on the dash was still working? If not, then the suspicion would focus upon the CVR.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Fuel gauge was working fine.

Wonder if it had anything to do with the fact I needed to crank her for sometime to start after sitting for 2 months.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Fuel gauge was working fine.

Wonder if it had anything to do with the fact I needed to crank her for sometime to start after sitting for 2 months.
Doubt that very much.

 
No relays involved...sorry. You probably just have a flakey connection somewhere.

 
nod to midlife, electrical gremlins are those things that work sometimes and not others, you don't think anything changed but the car shuttered in a certain left right left pattern and made contact. Gremlins come and go, are damn near invisible, and are hard as hell to trace that's why they are gremlins.

 
I am in the process of bolting everything back on to the engine after removal. As i am starting to connect wires i am having to replace every wire i touch as the wires are so brittle and ready to snap or already snapped.

 
I am in the process of bolting everything back on to the engine after removal. As i am starting to connect wires i am having to replace every wire i touch as the wires are so brittle and ready to snap or already snapped.
midlife could prolly do all that for you in one fell swoop, send off harness with connectors, receive like newish harness with connectors.......boom.

 
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