442 Rally Gauge Problems

[JAMES L EUBANK]

Yes its the large braided type. Its one the main ground wires to the body. It supplies ground to most of electrical components not just your cluster. If you look at your gas tank it has one on it and the other end is screwed into the body but smaller.

Found and cleaned up the ground against the fire wall, then sealed the end with black rubber silicone. Started it up, and all the gauges are working. They are not accurate, so I don't know if that was part of the problem. Maybe, it just started working on its own, or maybe the ground was just part of the problem. Volts read about 12 (Alternator reading 14.57 with multimeter), oil pressure reads about 60 psi, and fuel tank reads accurately. I'm going to put a pressure gauge on and verify the oil pressure, but the volt gauge is definitely not correct. Thanks for the ground tip, but it may have been only part of the problem. Either way, ground strap eliminated as a problem.

 

[Mike T]

Volts read will depend on where you are pulling the measurement from. I have had meters that read 12.3 volts and on other cars read 13.4 or whatever the alternator output was. If the gauge package was in the car from the factory, you may have the wrong sending unit hooked into the oil pressure gauge. An idiot light sending unit will often give a constant pressure reading or sometimes swing slowly up and down a few psi as motor revs change,