DerSchlechtSpecht

Okay guys, this is serious. I need this car running properly by tomorrow night, so I am going to post a 20 dollar reward to the first lister that nails the culprit.

I was installing an antenna and messing around in the radio compartment.

It was getting cold so I decided to start the engine. upon turning the key my volt gauge was dead, my oil pressure pegged, my fuel gauge was dead, and my temp gauge pegged. The warning light for the volt gauge was on, and oil pressure was on.

Keep in mind this is all instrumentation. I definatly have good oil pressure and 13.5v.

Engine starts flawlessly, and runs excellent. however tach and speedo do not work. Still getting odd reading from all the gauges. Radio does not work, for some reason all the lights behind the switches are on, even though the lights are not switched on. Fog lights come on without turning on parking lights.

Upon shut off and removal of key, inboard lights are still on, gauges are still pegged, or dead with idiot lights on. DME still powered up. I have to restart the engine, then shut off again for everything to turn off.

Sometimes upon start up of engine, the alarm makes one beep.

Please help, if not for me, do it for the 20 bucks!!!!!!

-Christian

horsepowerfarm

Bad ground

RedlineMan

Hey;

Amittyville Horror Car!

When such strange demons possess, it is usually because you have lost or disturbed a ground somewhere!

DerSchlechtSpecht

I thought the same thing however the grounds for the instrument cluster are under the dash not behing the radio. Or am I missing something?

-Christian

DerSchlechtSpecht

CONTEST OVER-

Answer was :


Slam door REAL hard while engine is running.

-Christian

Jay W

Sounds like you have an 'always on' power wire making contact with one of the wires leading to the instrument cluster

Cyrus951

What exactly where you doing in the radio compartment?

I had some similar symptoms where my dme was making clicking noises,

and my gauges where dead, and my lights where flashing. What my

problem turned out being was the battery was wet (just rinsed the car)

and there was water over the + and - terminals, after drying them up with

a towel, the car ran fine.

If the car was working fine, and you messed with something, and ****s starts happening, then just focus on where you were working on, and take your time to pinpoint the problem.

DerSchlechtSpecht

Cyrus, you hit it right on the head! I was installing a 968 style antenna, thus I had to route the new cable though the dash and into the sea of wires behind the radio. Turns out I had several wires not properly connected, and several potential shorts. Now that these have been fixed. All is well.

-Christian

porklover

So who got the 20 bucks then?

Dave

Of course! That procedure is on page 229 in the Haynes manual!

BeerBurner

This is one of the things I love about old cars. 90% of their problems can be solved by smacking something, jiggling something, or turning up the stereo and ignoring it until it goes away...

BB.

Peckster

I don't know about that last one, man. Ignore strange noises at your peril.

BeerBurner

True. It is a method that works better on cars that don't cost much when the worst happens...

BB.

DerSchlechtSpecht

I did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Christian

emoore924

On older cars, I often find myself employing "percussive maintenance" -- also known as the act of beating the cr*p out of something until it starts working again...