928 U.K.

hi

my voltmeter needle seems to shoot to the top when my ignition is turned on

has any one experienced this before?

could it be a bad earth?

is the car safe to drive?

the car starts up and drives fine

all the other gagues seem to work ok

any help on this would be great

cheers

Tim 84 s2 auto

User 4221

This is a new one..... Most voltmeters read too low due to voltage drops in the system or a weak earth connection.

I would immediately measure voltage at the battery with the car running using a digital volt meter.
If you see anything over 14.4V, then you probably have a faulty voltage regulator.

If the VR is bad, then you could measure something in the range of 19-25V.
Make sure you measure both AC and DC. When VRs fail they sometimes pass AC as the diodes can be shot.

Do this immediately as running with too high a voltage can destroy your lights and electronics.

BTW, have you had any lights fail recently? Like a headlight, park light, or tail light?

If the VR checks out fine, then I don't know what to say. Your voltmeter gauge may be one of the only optimistic ones out there

HTH,
Scott

jpitman2

Mine does all sorts of strange things from time to time. As with you everything else seems to work fine. Check the actual Volts with a DVM (cigar lighter is a handy place to do it) at the time, and when the meter reads normally, so you know if there really is a problem. When mine pointed north of 14V, closer to 16V, my dvm said 'never went over 13.8V', I gave up worrying about the meter. When and if I get to pull the pod for some reason, then I will look into checking the contacts and adjusting the reading.
jp 83 Euro S

928 U.K.

Hi

thanks for the response

no bulbs or fuses seem to have blown

cheers

Tim 84 s2 auto