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Wedge TR7 fuel and temp. gauges not working
- Thread starter Andrew Mace
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OP
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Mickey, I'm confused: the (time of day) clock is in the upper left of the cluster as you look at the face of the cluster from the driver's seat, so I don't see how it can be upper left in a photo of the backside of the cluster? :confuse:Mickey Richaud said:
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Andrew Mace said:
MAGIC!
You're right, of course. I took the picture with the housing upside down, then did a 180 rotation in the "Edit" function on the computer. If you stand on your head, all will be well... :wink:
OP
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Re: TR7 fuel and temp. gauges [still!] not working
:madder:
More about that in a moment.
SOME progress continues to be made on the TR7. We discovered last weekend that not only were the front brake pads well overdue for replacement, but one was missing completely! Not really a good thing, as the caliper piston doesn't really have enough surface area (or friction material on said surface area) to act as a brake pad. Fortunately, it's something that must have happened just before the previous owner had put the car into storage, as there was virtually no damage to either the piston or the rotor (whew!).
[SIDEBAR: Wow, those TR7 rotors are awfully skinny!]
Onto the rear brakes, where there was much less drama. In pulling the drums, I found shoes with no more than about 25% wear and otherwise clean and uncontaminated. However, we'd discovered when first getting the car started, off jackstands and out of storage, that the RR brake wasn't really functional. As suspected (and planned for by buying one), the wheel cylinder was partially frozen up. Having scored a great deal from eBay on a new cylinder, it didn't take too long to take care of that problem.
[SIDEBAR: I prefer Girling brakes to the Lockheed on the TR7!]
Oh, but you're all wondering about the fuel and temp. gauges. Not so much success there. We cleaned contacts and cleaned them some more and then put the cluster back into the dash. The doggone time-of-day clock is chugging away merrily, but it appears we still don't have fuel and temp. gauges!** And true to late-BLMC quality and logic, the largely plastic odometer reset is shot, but the time-of-day clock reset (a nice steel sheathed cable like odometer reset cables USED to be) is fine!
[SIDEBAR: :madder: ]
Oh, and in the past week, the new battery somehow went flat, and the side and tail lights have gone away!
**Someone PLEASE explain to this new-to-digital-meters and such Triumph owner how I go about testing the temperature gauge sender (or any other similar object) for resistance. I get kinda dense about such things, so I'm not even sure what cable connections I should be using on the meter for an ohm test! (There's usually two places where the + cable probe can plug in on these meters, but I'm never sure when I should use that "other" connection, as I do mostly continuity testing with the voltmeter part.
Again, thanks for help, suggestions, sympathy, offers to trade this TR7 for a good EA81 Subaru engine, circa 1981, etc., etc.! :laugh:
:madder:
More about that in a moment.
SOME progress continues to be made on the TR7. We discovered last weekend that not only were the front brake pads well overdue for replacement, but one was missing completely! Not really a good thing, as the caliper piston doesn't really have enough surface area (or friction material on said surface area) to act as a brake pad. Fortunately, it's something that must have happened just before the previous owner had put the car into storage, as there was virtually no damage to either the piston or the rotor (whew!).
[SIDEBAR: Wow, those TR7 rotors are awfully skinny!]
Onto the rear brakes, where there was much less drama. In pulling the drums, I found shoes with no more than about 25% wear and otherwise clean and uncontaminated. However, we'd discovered when first getting the car started, off jackstands and out of storage, that the RR brake wasn't really functional. As suspected (and planned for by buying one), the wheel cylinder was partially frozen up. Having scored a great deal from eBay on a new cylinder, it didn't take too long to take care of that problem.
[SIDEBAR: I prefer Girling brakes to the Lockheed on the TR7!]
Oh, but you're all wondering about the fuel and temp. gauges. Not so much success there. We cleaned contacts and cleaned them some more and then put the cluster back into the dash. The doggone time-of-day clock is chugging away merrily, but it appears we still don't have fuel and temp. gauges!** And true to late-BLMC quality and logic, the largely plastic odometer reset is shot, but the time-of-day clock reset (a nice steel sheathed cable like odometer reset cables USED to be) is fine!
[SIDEBAR: :madder: ]
Oh, and in the past week, the new battery somehow went flat, and the side and tail lights have gone away!
**Someone PLEASE explain to this new-to-digital-meters and such Triumph owner how I go about testing the temperature gauge sender (or any other similar object) for resistance. I get kinda dense about such things, so I'm not even sure what cable connections I should be using on the meter for an ohm test! (There's usually two places where the + cable probe can plug in on these meters, but I'm never sure when I should use that "other" connection, as I do mostly continuity testing with the voltmeter part.
Again, thanks for help, suggestions, sympathy, offers to trade this TR7 for a good EA81 Subaru engine, circa 1981, etc., etc.! :laugh:
OP
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Re: TR7 fuel and temp. gauges [still!] not working
Oh, yeah, Don! It does have gas in it (albeit 10-year-old gas, oddly still quite good!), and it runs quite well...and charges nicely! THAT much I can check with my meter! :wink:
Oh, yeah, Don! It does have gas in it (albeit 10-year-old gas, oddly still quite good!), and it runs quite well...and charges nicely! THAT much I can check with my meter! :wink:
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Re: TR7 fuel and temp. gauges [still!] not working
Andy -
I don't believe the gauges are any different than earlier ones. Shorting them at the sender should tell you if they're working.
Did you check continuity between the plug end terminus on the dash housing and the gauge connections? May be a broken strip there. Or the multi-connector may have issues.
Hope this helps.
Mickey
Andy -
I don't believe the gauges are any different than earlier ones. Shorting them at the sender should tell you if they're working.
Did you check continuity between the plug end terminus on the dash housing and the gauge connections? May be a broken strip there. Or the multi-connector may have issues.
Hope this helps.
Mickey
OP
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Re: TR7 fuel and temp. gauges [still!] not working
Bad news: still no working temp. and fuel gauges.
GOOD news: shorting out the sender wire causes the temp. gauge to register! :banana: Unfortunately, I'm stuck working outside at the moment, and the rain has made it much too messy to try to get at the fuel gauge sender and short out the wire on that, but I'm fairly confident I'll get the same result as with the temp. gauge.
So it looks as if I'll need a new temp. gauge sender (I'm NOT surprised!), and I'll keep a good thought -- for now -- about the fuel gauge sender just being dirty.
Hopefully, that's just about the last of the major problems, and we can get the car registered this week and start working out any other little problems (I'm told by the PO that the odometer doesn't work, so I really need to get a fairly reliable fuel gauge for my 18-year-old while we contemplate THAT little problem!)
Well, I can honestly say I'm getting close to having gauges again. Everything seems fine in terms of continuity, right up to the multi-connector. So today I finally got the opportunity to take the temp. and fuel gauges out of the cluster, clean up every contact I could, test the gauges while they were out (both worked fine with power applied), reassemble the cluster and install it in the car.Mickey Richaud said:
Bad news: still no working temp. and fuel gauges.
GOOD news: shorting out the sender wire causes the temp. gauge to register! :banana: Unfortunately, I'm stuck working outside at the moment, and the rain has made it much too messy to try to get at the fuel gauge sender and short out the wire on that, but I'm fairly confident I'll get the same result as with the temp. gauge.
So it looks as if I'll need a new temp. gauge sender (I'm NOT surprised!), and I'll keep a good thought -- for now -- about the fuel gauge sender just being dirty.
Hopefully, that's just about the last of the major problems, and we can get the car registered this week and start working out any other little problems (I'm told by the PO that the odometer doesn't work, so I really need to get a fairly reliable fuel gauge for my 18-year-old while we contemplate THAT little problem!)
OP
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Re: TR7 fuel and temp. gauges [still!] not working
1. I have a new temperature sender on order; hopefully it will arrive by the end of the week.
2. I shorted out the green/black wire to the fuel tank sender...and got nothing. So I then shorted out the (whatever color it is; the book's out in the car and I'm too lazy to go look) wire to the "low fuel warning light" (I guess that's a good thing -- if it works at all -- for those who can't quite handle the sweeping motion of a gauge needle!) and did see some movement on the gauge. I'm not totally sure that's all good, since I'm still not completely clear on how the gauge and warning light work together, but it does make me think there's a problem with the sender. If nothing else, I think I've confirmed that, like the temp. gauge, I do have power for the fuel gauge from the sender up to and including the gauge!
Since the tank seems quite low on fuel, I might go ahead and try to remove the sender and see if it can be freed up. If not, guess it's time to order one of those.
And not that I really care too much, but I'd sure like to somehow get power 100% of the time to the time-of-day clock. I suppose a bit more contact cleaning is in order there, since wiggling the wire harness to the cluster usually seems to restore the clock. Same with the hazard flasher switch.
OH, and it looks as though I'll try to hang a small "glasspack" muffler off the back, since whatever rear muffler was on there (not stock) has rotted away, and I really don't feel like spending absurd amounts of money for originality on the exhaust! :laugh:
UPDATE:Yours Truly said:So it looks as if I'll need a new temp. gauge sender (I'm NOT surprised!), and I'll keep a good thought -- for now -- about the fuel gauge sender just being dirty.
1. I have a new temperature sender on order; hopefully it will arrive by the end of the week.
2. I shorted out the green/black wire to the fuel tank sender...and got nothing. So I then shorted out the (whatever color it is; the book's out in the car and I'm too lazy to go look) wire to the "low fuel warning light" (I guess that's a good thing -- if it works at all -- for those who can't quite handle the sweeping motion of a gauge needle!) and did see some movement on the gauge. I'm not totally sure that's all good, since I'm still not completely clear on how the gauge and warning light work together, but it does make me think there's a problem with the sender. If nothing else, I think I've confirmed that, like the temp. gauge, I do have power for the fuel gauge from the sender up to and including the gauge!
Since the tank seems quite low on fuel, I might go ahead and try to remove the sender and see if it can be freed up. If not, guess it's time to order one of those.
And not that I really care too much, but I'd sure like to somehow get power 100% of the time to the time-of-day clock. I suppose a bit more contact cleaning is in order there, since wiggling the wire harness to the cluster usually seems to restore the clock. Same with the hazard flasher switch.
OH, and it looks as though I'll try to hang a small "glasspack" muffler off the back, since whatever rear muffler was on there (not stock) has rotted away, and I really don't feel like spending absurd amounts of money for originality on the exhaust! :laugh: