problems fitting GTS Dash into WB one tonner

[tommytoan]

Ive been having trouble trying to get the gauges on my GTS dash (i think its HZ, not sure) to work. Oil and temp do not work, fuel goes straight to max and my tacho stays way to low. I've done a lot of looking around at other threads namely, http://www.#################/holden-v8s/48215-fitting-hz-gts-dash-wb-ute-help-needed-2.html

A person there says that the 12v on this dash gets regulated to 5v for the temp/fuel gauges, I have had the multimeter out and it appears that im getting 12v to the temp and oil.

The other issue is that apparently the temp sensor has different ohms range and that the oil sensor for non GTS dash models are on off sensor hooked up to a light (i got the car with the gts dash so i don't know what my WB had standard)

Now ive tested the resistance on my temp sender and it reads 215 ohms resistance cold. Im not sure if thats high, if the thread I linked is correct then this sender is too high. The oil sender I haven't taken off to check yet partly because im not sure how to check it, what resistance reading am i looking for?

is the tacho supposed to recieve 5v or 12v?

I have attached a few pics showing the supposed voltage regulator that is this thin piece of metal.

any help greatly appreciated!

(i posted this over at aussiev8s but it hasn't come up yet, their forum system is weird :/)

 

[enroh]

Your oil switch will be just that a switch, activated at 10psi or so, which means you will have. To get a oil pressure 'sender' as fitted to the gts.

----500rwhp corn juiced & boosted ls1----

 

[Hangman]

As above, the oil and temp senders for the gauges are different to the ones for just the warning lights.

 

[ari666]

i had this problem with a mates ford, i wasnt aware that holden did the same cheap-arse trick to get rid of their old 6V guages, but i wouldnt be surprised.

so the problem lay with the 12V being fed to the guages. all the senders were tested and worked fine (the pic youve linked of the sender is actually a sender btw, not a switch so its correct to use with the temp guage depending on resistance). the fault lay with the voltage regulator on the back of the dash. and here is the story:

in the 60's cars changed their wiring systems from the old 6V to the more stable and reliable 12V systems. what that meant was ford had loads of guages already made which were 6V. so instead of binning them, they regulated the input to the dash so they would still work and they could get rid of their excess stock while new 12V guages were fabricated. cool story.

what we needed to do was go to jaycar and make a very simple 6V voltage regualtor:

we used slightly larger capacitors 300nF i think from memory but could be wrong. it just meant that if the 12V dropped below 12 for a period, the regulator would remain more stable, but thats neither here nor there. think components cost us about 4 bucks in total.

then bypassed the factory regulator and HEY PRESTO! everything worked as normal.

an added benefit to doing it this way is you no longer need the noise suppressor on the radio as the transistor doesnt introduce noise the same way that the sliding bar regulator used to.

 

[ari666]

oh, just a word of warning. the 6V guages use a heated tube to display levels. running 12V to the heated tubes for more than a few seconds burns the tubes out and kills the guages, so unless you wanna go hunting for replacement guages, be VERY VERY careful when you go about live testing.

 

[ari666]

Oil and temp do not work,

I have had the multimeter out and it appears that im getting 12v to the temp and oil.

oh dear.... you may be in the market for new guages

 

[ari666]

all this is only to say if holden used 6V guages. my chevy is fitted with 12V everything and was built by holden in 66'. i havnt heard of holdens using 6V stuff on 12V cars, but i wouldnt be surprised if its true.

 

[tommytoan]

hmm interesting, yeah i was thinking about doing some kind of regulator fix to it, just once I find out if it definitely needs 5v or not. I grounded the temp gauge yesterday and it went up and down so fingers crossed they are still in working order.

 

[ari666]

ah ok, yeah if it moves its fine. my mates ford fuel and oil pressure went off the scale and he drove to my workshop like that. he said about half way here they both stopped working. luckily he had spares with him. but his didnt do **** when we tested them.

this thread says theyre 5v (not sure why i constantly say 6v, sorry bout that) http://www.#################/holden-v8s/36132-gts-gauges-reading-out.html

mate, that circuit couldnt be easier to follow.

get a black wire say 300mm long and two red 150mm then solder in the caps and the transistor to look like this:

 

[delcowizzid]

215ohms is too much i think its meant to be 73 ish to 10ish ohms hot v's cold .as for the oil pressure you will have a switch type sensor you need the bigger bulky one for the gauge to work