• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

The Tach says, "Squawk, squawk, squawk!"

Share this page

livinginthepast

livinginthepast

Jedi Trainee
Offline
The Tach says, "Squawk, squawk, squawk!"

Driving the BE this morning I noticed a really annoying squawking coming from my tach. I reached behind the dash and was able to silence it temporarily by tightening and wiggling. It still seems to register rpms with (relative) accuracy.

Is this an early indicator or a impending doom for my tachometer (as I fear it probably is), or maybe the tachometer cable is failing? Maybe? ;-)

If doomed, can anyone suggest a person who rebuilds these things?

Thx!
billw
 
Re: The Tach says, "Squawk, squawk, squawk!"

The last time my tach squeaked, the generator packed it in shortly after...
 
Re: The Tach says, "Squawk, squawk, squawk!"

There are only a couple of places I can think of that could do this. One is obviously the cable. The second is (how do I describe this?) the point where the cable connects to the internal mechanism. The cable feeds into a shaft that spins, and this has close clearances with the outer part that supports it. This very likely has become dry. Third is the internals of the tach, where a magnet spins in an aluminum cup. The clearances are close, and that could be making contact--but if that were the case, you'd easily see extra movement in the needle.

The thing isn't that complicated. You can pull the tach and see if the input shaft moves freely; if not, clean and lubricate with some very light grease.

If this really starts binding, you'll break that $75 gear on the output of the generator. Three guesses how I know this can happen....
 
Re: The Tach says, "Squawk, squawk, squawk!"

I'll try greasing the input end of the cable and see if that makes a difference. If that doesn't work, i'm thinking that it is the internals of the tach that are disintegrating. The noise is clearly coming from the tach and it isn't just a faint sound - more like an angry crow sentry warning its pals that a bear has emerged from the forest
 
Re: The Tach says, "Squawk, squawk, squawk!"

....and the wheels on the bus go round and round......round and round......round and round.......

Sorry guys, I just couldn't resist.
 
Re: The Tach says, "Squawk, squawk, squawk!"

It's kinda hard to get any lube into the tach without at least removing it from the dash. I suppose you could start by lubing the cable; that could be it. Not all problems are complicated.

If it is indeed coming from the tach, it's probably just lubrication. Unlikely that anything is actually disintegrating.
 
Re: The Tach says, "Squawk, squawk, squawk!"

So, disconnect the cable from the back of the Tac and see if the noise goes away.
 
Back
Top