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2,518 Posts
This is what happens when an idiot installs an Autometer speedo
Yes, I am that idiot.
After figuring out that my speedo wasn't working, I have been chasing down the problem. I knew it couldn't be the speedo, brand new. So I tested the sensor according to what the tech support guy told me. Everything checked out fine on a bench test, got 6.4 volts AC with a drill, maybe it isn't spinning in the trans.
Put some greese on the gear and put it in and turned the driveshaft. Pulled it back out and sure enough, greese all the way around it.
Hooked my volt meter to it and turned the driveshaft, got only .2 volts AC (can't turn it near as fast as a drill on the bench), but I got voltage.
Got a new sensor, same readings.
Take the dash out and start testing circuits, got continuity from sender to gauge cluster. Hook the sender up and spin it with the drill, no voltage. Now I am baffled.
I only get .5 ohms of resistance, so the wire is good. So I check continuity again, this time on both wires. Should only have continuity on one wire right? Wrong, both do, one is a ground. So I check continuity at the cluster to ground, I have continuity, WTF.
Ok so I have a short to ground. Everything is grometted and heat shrunk to protect it, how is it grounding. I check all spot where there is metal contact, nothing.
So, I decide to run a temp wire to try that. I go back under the car to pull the existing wire back to no avail. I trace it back and the freakin thing is stuck in between the servo plate and the trans case. So it was grounded.
I guess when I went to bolt up the shift linkage, when I loosened the bolts on the servo, the wire fell in the gap when the plate popped out just a little. Goodie Goodie.
I pull the damn wire out and retest it, speedo goes all the way to 40 with the drill.
Now I have to put the freakin dash back together, when there was no need in taking it out in the first place.
:aug2:
Yes, I am that idiot.

After figuring out that my speedo wasn't working, I have been chasing down the problem. I knew it couldn't be the speedo, brand new. So I tested the sensor according to what the tech support guy told me. Everything checked out fine on a bench test, got 6.4 volts AC with a drill, maybe it isn't spinning in the trans.
Put some greese on the gear and put it in and turned the driveshaft. Pulled it back out and sure enough, greese all the way around it.
Hooked my volt meter to it and turned the driveshaft, got only .2 volts AC (can't turn it near as fast as a drill on the bench), but I got voltage.
Got a new sensor, same readings.
Take the dash out and start testing circuits, got continuity from sender to gauge cluster. Hook the sender up and spin it with the drill, no voltage. Now I am baffled.
I only get .5 ohms of resistance, so the wire is good. So I check continuity again, this time on both wires. Should only have continuity on one wire right? Wrong, both do, one is a ground. So I check continuity at the cluster to ground, I have continuity, WTF.
Ok so I have a short to ground. Everything is grometted and heat shrunk to protect it, how is it grounding. I check all spot where there is metal contact, nothing.
So, I decide to run a temp wire to try that. I go back under the car to pull the existing wire back to no avail. I trace it back and the freakin thing is stuck in between the servo plate and the trans case. So it was grounded.
I guess when I went to bolt up the shift linkage, when I loosened the bolts on the servo, the wire fell in the gap when the plate popped out just a little. Goodie Goodie.
I pull the damn wire out and retest it, speedo goes all the way to 40 with the drill.
Now I have to put the freakin dash back together, when there was no need in taking it out in the first place.