Strange Gauge Readings...
 

Ok, I've been having some issues with my radio where I plug in my iPod's power adaptor to the lighter socket and this weird star trek impulse engine sound comes out the whole system. Thinking it was a bad charger, went out and bought another one that was a different type than before, still makes the noise. Come to find out it was a loose ground, so tightened it up and now the noise is more like radio interference. Very light but I play my music loud so it’s noticeable. At the same time I was doing some work on my cluster because the tach needle was rubbing on the face plate and getting stuck. So after I tighten everything up, my fuel and temp gauges go straight to the top! The tach and speedo work fine, but now I cant tell if I’m overheating and how much gas I have!!:076: I tried disconnecting the fuel sending unit and the needle drops back to E. But as soon as I plug it back in it goes straight to top, I've already driven 100 miles on this last fill so I know it’s not full. I did the same for the Temp Sensor, and needle drops, plug it back in and goes to top. But I can grab the radiator hose and its warm, but not enough to burn. So I know its not overheating. I did also notice that the fan clutch doesn’t seem to engage. Anyone have any Ideas!?

hmmm....soemthing wierd happened to me....when i had amy z32 it had a amp for the system (not subs but for headunit to all 4 speakers) and it was screwy as well, some how picked up the engine interference and created a whine like a supercharger that cam threw the speakers and increased in pitch as the engine rev's went up....litterally sounded like my car was super charged....but only from the inside and it came threw the speakers....never figured out why....something crazy with wiring mabye....i just took it out and that ended that chapter....

It only makes the noise when the charger is plugged into the iPod. If I disconnect the charger the iPod sounds GREAT. If you pause the iPod and turn up the volume, gets to about 35 before you hear any hissing, 25 is too loud for me so it works good.

BUT its the gauges. Now I just checked the fan clutch and it turns way too easy by hand. Then I ran the engine and used a rag to slow down the fan, stopped in my hand, so im assuming the clutch fan is bad, but would that cause the temp gauge to go to max in less than 30 seconds?

yah need the fan...that can lead to overheating...but i seriously doubt thats what your car is doing....sounds like when you took the cluster out you fawked something up....some how theres a signal being sent to that side makin your temp and fuel guages shoot up when the car is given power.....

Eric, the noise coming through your speakers can be cured by installing a cap in your system. Chico, you could of crossed some wires or something or another when you were messing with your cluster. I would retrace your steps and check your cluster. You need a new fan clutch, but that is an irrelevant problem to the one at hand. check your cluster and the wiring to it.

Ive checked and rechecked that cluster like 10 times already, the wiring only fits one way, i even tried to flip the cables but they wont fit. im in the process of installing a new fan clutch and temp sender.

The stereo thing is a little weird. I can hook up a power inverter and the factory iPod charger and I get crystal clear sound, but it stands taller than the shifter and driving with that sux. Thats why I opted for the plug-in charger. But I would figure I would get more noise with the inverter than with the charger.:paranoid:

The stereo noise is just interferance, sometimes it happens. When you do something besides stock you get odd little things like that.
As for the gages...well, I'm no master electrician but it sounds like something is shorted out or something.....like it's getting diret power from something rather than a measured out voltage from a sensor. Know what I mean?

sounds as if you need a resistor for the music equip--i get this same 60 cycle interference noise when i charge my boat batteries and try to listen to radio or use vhf--i do not have a resistor--also--check that your wiring is not neatly gathered and tied together making a kind of situation wherein you get the same problem--separate the wires so the antenna is not wired with the other wires--also any wire with a fuse inside--keep them separate from your other wires. try that--should be easy, not difficult!! good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I had the wires just stuffed in there before, so I actually rewired the radio and did it nice. Of course this is after the gauges started to mess up. I changed out the fan clutch and put in a new temp sender and STILL goes to max on both gauges. The fuel gauge is stuck on F and the temp gauge still takes about 30-45 second to get to max. I've crawled all over every bit of wiring I could get a hold of. Even unplugged the battery and waited. Did the same for the ECU. And its still messing up. Im going to examine the wiring diagram to see if theres anything I might have missed.

Oh, I also checked the wiring harness for the radio. Turns out theres 0.2V on the ground wires!? This is the same wire that I ground before to get rid of the "star trek impulse engine" noise. Also thats when this all started. I checked the wiring and even unplugged it, but nothing changed:093:

This is why I pay people to fix my car. It's always cheaper than an anurism. :D

puss.....lol, i never paid a person to fix my car..only alignment...and a tranny replacement once but that was on a whole diff car....

Ok, scrutinized the FSM and took apart the cluster. Checked the components and everything checks out. Only thing Ihave left is to check the wiring harness tolerences. But so far nothing. Has anyone had this problem?

the wierd noises coming from your speakers is something shorted to ground, one way you could probably use as a quick fix is to run a new ground wire from the radio equipment directly to the closest exposed frame... but this may or may not fix the problem depending on how much electricity really is shorted to ground somewhere in your car. Who knows it may be caused by the gauge cluster mess up or vice versa.

And what are you driving now and why? Yeeeeaaaaaah.......lol:037:

i know what it is--your car is too pretty to have looks and sounds, too. ????
my only car with tunes is my UUUGGLLLYYYY one--and i still need a resistor and a better antenna connection. oh, yea--check that your antenna isn-t together with your wires--sometimes that helps--i know it did on my boat for some retarded reason! good luck

woah woah woah....lol....compression loss is not my fault if i never beat ont he car and changed the oil ever 3-3.5k miles...nothing else was wrong with the car..especially what i did to it....i cant control compression loss if it was already in the midsts from previous owners...and just you watch...a Z will find its was back to me, most likley not a z32 (even though i got the money for a TT) but in college after buying that i wont be able to keep up on Maint. or find the time as easily....so im feeling a s30 and for gas milage and fun a crotch rocket.

YIKES, well back to the gauges. Ive been fighting with this for the past 3 days and I cant make heads or tales of it. I dont mind driving it that way but A)I want my stupid gauges working!!!
B)Who knows if that will screw anything up.

Im thinking that theres some negative feedback or something going into the ground and causing the gauges to max out. THOUGH, everything else seems to work just fine...:091: :076: :013: :093: :icon_hang: :s-chainsaw:

sorry for the off topicness....yeah you can drive, i dont know why it would cause additional problems...you need to try and find a way if its just your gauge cluster...or soemthing else...you dont have a way of trying someone elses cluster do you? a buddy got a z32??? something????

Nah no one I know around my wayz that has a z32. Even eBay isnt being nice to me. Crap this sux.

Well heres a few pics of my progress...wich is zilch! I checked every wire and every connection and for the life of me I cant figure this out. I followed the steps in the FSM and still nothing, only thing I havent tried is to try another cluster.

But here ya go, so you can see what frustration looks like.

Heres the cluster after I accidently crossed a ground wire to the + terminal. The FSM suggests to ground the guage, but im all thumbs...

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...X/100_2368.jpg

Heres a closer look

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...X/100_2366.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...X/100_2367.jpg

And after some creative liquid electrical tapeing...

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...X/100_2369.jpg

Only to finish and have the cluster do this..

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h1...X/100_2371.jpg

I guess its time to get a new cluster but those are getting hard to find, the stealership has the gauges but I was too afraid to ask..:paranoid:

i would...some of that junk looks fried and tape might just not cut it...

Yeah the insulation exploded in a puff of smoke, but the underlying copper strand is still in great shape. But it didnt have any effect on the gauges.

Oh I measured 6.9v on the temp gauge and 10.9v on the fuel gauge. I dunno what its supposed to be.

Another thing... does the fuel gauge always show how much fuel you have when the car is off or does the needle drop like the temp gauge?

So whatsd still reading wrong? Temp and fuel or just Temp? If it's running everything but the temp looks normal to me. At least, thats what mine looks like with the engine running, in park with the door shut and the seat belt off.

Lol, yeah, its still messing up, both gauges. I'm driving it right now, and it doesnt seem to affect anything else. But the fuel gauge is my main concern. I'm surprised no one else here seems to have had this problem.

you fired some of those conduits on your cluster. You can find a new one on a parts car. Put a want ad on here and on TT.net. You'd be suprised the deals you'll find.