VERY REGRETFULY!! - Gauge problems - interferance?

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

firsthl let me say how sorry i am to be posting this but

im getting interferance on some of the gauges, the oil pressure works perfictly, no issues with that one, how ever the oil tem and o2 gauge are having massive problems with electrical interferance, eg, bass notes caus the nedles to bounce (this i can live with) the main problem is that when ever the head lights are on (and the gauges are dimmed cuz of the dimmer function) jumps up heaps! by 20+degrees on the oil temp gauge also on long drives when the car is using more power (cooling etc) it reads at 150-160+ degrees, which i know the oil is not at, how do i know that you ask? when i stop the car turn the head lights off it drops to 120c and when i turn the car off (gauges are still on) and it reads a steady 100c - which is what it should be

the o2 gauge is much the same, yesterday i went for a 2 hour drive to auckland, the o2gauge read lean all the way, which im prety sure it shouldent do, and the temp gauge read 180c

we all know that the car would have exploded if those were the case, the oil pressure was great and bang on the whole way

so....... how do i fix the problem?

any help or ideas would be great

im sure others have had this issue

thanks guys, and sorry to be posting about the damn things again!!

[88GreenVN]

firsthl let me say how sorry i am to be posting this but

im getting interferance on some of the gauges, the oil pressure works perfictly, no issues with that one, how ever the oil tem and o2 gauge are having massive problems with electrical interferance, eg, bass notes caus the nedles to bounce (this i can live with) the main problem is that when ever the head lights are on (and the gauges are dimmed cuz of the dimmer function) jumps up heaps! by 20+degrees on the oil temp gauge also on long drives when the car is using more power (cooling etc) it reads at 150-160+ degrees, which i know the oil is not at, how do i know that you ask? when i stop the car turn the head lights off it drops to 120c and when i turn the car off (gauges are still on) and it reads a steady 100c - which is what it should be

the o2 gauge is much the same, yesterday i went for a 2 hour drive to auckland, the o2gauge read lean all the way, which im prety sure it shouldent do, and the temp gauge read 180c

we all know that the car would have exploded if those were the case, the oil pressure was great and bang on the whole way

so....... how do i fix the problem?

any help or ideas would be great

im sure others have had this issue

thanks guys, and sorry to be posting about the damn things again!!

I'm no auto sparky - but I'd say you've got a wire joined wrong some place.

I'd try disconnecting the main power to the gauges and run a sep wire feed direct from the battery to see if you can by pass the wire fault. Also check the earths.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

ill give that a go!!

1 thing tho, all of them are wired to the same plave, so all the power leads are joining to the same sorce, all ground points are connected and running thru 1 point, same with the dimmer, the only things that arnt wired in a group is the sender lines

could that have somthing to do with it?

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

also im running all three gauges off a 10amp fuze, could this be causing one gauge to be getting full power and the other 2 to be getting half or less power?? - im totaly lost when it comes to this

[VrWagz1]

No that wont be the issue. Do they do it when the gauges are not dimmed, but still lit up with the dimmer off and all your head lights still on.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

yea they do it when there not dimmed, havent tryd it wothout the dimmer and the head lights on though.

they also "pulse" when i have one of my indicators on

[delcowizzid]

ide say run them to a different power sorce even run a tempory wire direct from the battery and try it

[VrWagz1]

It sort of sounds like they are suffering from a voltage loss all to do with the lighting cct. As above try powering the gauges off a seperate supply direct from the battery. Also if you havnt already make sure the battery terminals are clean, but i dont think that will be the problem.

Yeah the base note will obviously affect them as your battery voltage will drop a little and cause the gauges references to read out slightly.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

tonight im putting in a volt meter, so ill be able to move the other gauges arround a bit, wireing wise, im currently running all 3 gauges off 1 cig lighter wire, what if i run them of of the 2 wires for the cig lighter, would that work? i want to avoid wiring direct from the bat, cuz i dont want the gauges to be on all the time

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

ok the voltmeter gauge is in!

and somthing very strange has happned, i wired it into the same points as the other gauges so now oil pressure (works fine) volts (works fine) and oil temp (gives false readings) are all wired together, the o2 gauge ive taken out and ive set it up as a plug and play basicly.

i think the oil temp gauge is faulty, the reason why is that the volt meter wasnt "jumping" when i switchd on lights or indicators (or even turned the car to acc!!)

it was falling by an amount i would expect, and even under heavy bass load the drop wasent huge (im running a 1farad capacator with my amps - 1450watts of power lol)

HOWEVER the oil pressure gauge was jumping and bouncing arround like mad, and on the 5min drive home it managed to be reading 180c (when the car is completly turned off but with power still on to the gauges/cig lighter it read 110c and changed up as soon is i put the car into acc), turning the car to acc makes it change (goes up by 10c) headlights (goes up by 10-20c) indicator (bounces perfectly intime with the indicaotr by 5c) bass is great fun to watch the gauge handle hahaha

so does that sound like a faulty gauge or could it be a wireing problem still?

oh also WHAT THE HELL IS THIS????

its a random wire i spotted, could it be used as power? more over what the hell does it do or go for that matter?

[ScoHar]

I may be wrong, but I was having similar problems in my VR and it was resolved with a new alternator, you can pick brand new bosch ones up off trade me for $110, and being an ecotec its the right type for your car. Also check/change the grounding of your amp.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

I may be wrong, but I was having similar problems in my VR and it was resolved with a new alternator, you can pick brand new bosch ones up off trade me for $110, and being an ecotec its the right type for your car. Also check/change the grounding of your amp.

the amps are grounded realy well, in the boot aswell, i dont think its the alternater as when the car is running it sits at 14volts and 12v when the car is switched off (normal i think) ill have a look for the alternater tho, would be good to know were it is if thats the case!!

[Thomas1]

I think that yellow wire is for the handbrake warning lamp. It sounds as though you have hooked up a power wire to a signal wire. I would rip it all out, and start afresh. I have mine tapped into the cigarette lighter power/ground wires and it works fine.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

the power fro mine comes from the cig lighter power and is earthed at the same point as the sterio, dimmer to the light for the gear leaver and obviously the senders go to the sender

i might try wirinh the ground to the cig lioghter ground, but i dont think its that

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

ok so here are the volt meter readings

acc- 12volts
engine on - just below 14 volts
engine off after drive 13 volts - drained with use of radio or other bits of the car

[ScoHar]

even when my alt was flogged the bat read 14v and 12v etc etc, they can play funny games with you. Mine never got a flat battery when the alt was playing up just alot of electrical gremlins.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

hmmmmm sounds familar!

ill have to start saving for a new alt, u sure the gauge isnt faulty? the only reason i think that is that the other gauges seem fine

[VrWagz1]

Unless you can get an alternator for cheaps, i would say put that money towards an auto leccy first, just to let them have a quick sqizz at it to confirm your suspicions. Have you tried just running a temp power wire out your bonnet and in through your window just to test the power supply theory.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

nope i havent tryd that, how do i make one and attach it safe?

ive prob got all the bits, i just wanna make sure i do it right

[ScoHar]

hmmmmm sounds familar!

ill have to start saving for a new alt, u sure the gauge isnt faulty? the only reason i think that is that the other gauges seem fine

It may not be the prob as said before get an auto elec to check it they should be able to do this in 10 mins, combined with your stereo woes I would think its the alt. also when I upgraded mine I went to a 120A one I think my standard one was 60A or 70A. anyway had a look on trademe for ya and they guy that was doing them for $110 has gone, Ill see what I have at home and see what I can do for ya.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

cheers bro that would be wicked!

[ephect]

running gauges and what not off the one source is good and well, but coz u've jumped it off the cig curcuit, u have to remember that other parts of the elec loom also run off it.

i personnally think as others have said, run a new power source from the battery, hook it thru a relay so it flicks on when acc is on, and then run it to ur gauges. too much load on 1 curcuit is never good, this alone could be the cause. another thing, find a good grounding spot and earth it straight to the body.

[axemurderer101]

on my car i wired my gauges to the ignition wire from the key which is a good thick wire, the earths are going straight to the body and i havnt had any probs. i have a volt, oil press, and air/fuel gauge and they all work fine.

[PSYKO PHOENIX]

how hard was that to do? you got a step by step?

[axemurderer101]

its pretty easy if you have some basic wiring experience. i soldered one wire onto the ignition wire which is under the steering wheel which then went through a fuse and then to one of my guages then i ran a wire from that gauge to the next one and from that gauge to the next one. you need a test light to find the ignition wire or acc wire, i used the ignition wire so that i can see how much my volt gauge goes down when i crank the engine as the acc cuts out when you crank the engine