Voltage drop on gauge

[oldsmobile joe]

GM didn't seem to put much thought into the grounds in these cars.......

what do you mean!? it made out of the warranty period.

 

[Bri guy]

I hooked up another ground from the battery to fender and didnt make a difference... Guess the vote would be that the gauge could be the issue?

 

[Bri guy]

If i really wanted to find out i could just get a gauge and hook it up the + wire from alt, and attach a ground and see what happens? Or is there more to it than that going on in the dash

 

[roger1]

Just do what I said to do in post #20.
Even better would be to connect jumpers directly to the back of the voltmeter. Tap into a pink/black for the power wire and a black for the ground wire. You can find both these colored wires on the slip in plug to the floppy circuit board. You can use those 3M spice connectors.

 

[Bri guy]

Starting looking at some wires under the hood. Noticed this beauty...could this be part of the issue? Attaches to the distributor...and where can i get a new plug? Also in the process of eliminating all wires that dont go to anywhere which probly went to the original 307 harness crap

 

[pagrunt]

Do you have a tach in the car now, either factory or aftermarket. Regardless you'll need to look into OPGI, Classic Industries, Mikes Montes, Dixie, Summit, Jegs to see what they have for a replacement tach harness (doesn't matter if it's for a Monte, Cutlass, Regal) & a tach filter. I make my own except for the filter. If you didn't know already, the filter will have white wires as the tach/dash wire to filter/coil is brown. But from seeing the "quality" work done there, I could suspect any other wire work the PO did could be the factor in voltage drop. Look over any & all non factory splices to see if they look like that so you can eleminate any possible causes.

 

[Bri guy]

I have the orignal tach. Still works. But that pigtail looks like it seen better days. Ive seen a few splices where they have 2 hot wires crimped into 1. Or multiple splices...... Not sure where it leads to for sure, it gets lost into the firewall.....makes me want to sell this headache! But then i took it for a drive and it felt pretty sweet

 

[fleming442]

Don't get discouraged; you're on the right track. You have a DVOM; verify voltage at the cluster. It will be easier to check the ignition switch. Check voltage on the reds and pinks at the ignition switch plug.

You're always so quick to throw in the towel! Perseverance is key, my brutha!

 

[Bri guy]

Ya you know me too well!!! gets over whelming sometimes. Or 1 thing leads to another...But that drive always changes my mind😎
when i put that alt bracket on, i went through 5 fuel lines just to get that perfect bend. Maybe i have a little OCD....maybe thats the real issue😂😞

 

[Max Headroom]

Do you have a harness connection at the firewall where the harness under the hood connects to the harness inside the car. A loose connection there might cause the voltage drop. There is usually a 1/4" bolt screwing the two together but it screws into plastic on the other side. I took my connection apart, cleaned as best I could in between then carefully put it back together. I screwed it together as tight as I dared and it solve my problem. Dash lights, blinkers, etc. got brighter too.