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electrical success and mystery

To: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: electrical success and mystery
From: Bill Saidel <saidel@crab.rutgers.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 08:36:27 -0400
Hi ye knowledgeable ones in vaporland,

        I bought a '76B last May and in my ignorance (which was complete), I
hadn't noticed the tach did not work. Just too excited I guess about my 1st
real toy car (my '63 Rambler does not count-a gift from my father that
lived for 3 months).

        Anyway, I've done a few things since then and decided to retackle the
tach. After much scratching of my fat hand, I managed to remove it from the
dash and it seemed alright. All 3 connections were intact. The spark I
inadvertantly generated from 2 of the connectors indicated power. 
        Ergo...something must be wrong with the tach. OK, I'm all prepared to 
send
it to Nisonger's on LI (nice guy I talked with who told me Mo
Ma-recommended by the list 2 out of 2 respondants- used to work there
before moving to New Mexico) when I had to pick up my SO's car from my
friendly mechanic. While talking with him about the tach, he noted that
there should be 2 different voltages when the car is on. Had I checked both?

        Oops...ignorance showing.  I found one of the connectors was 
electrically
non-existent. Voila. Traced the white-green wire back under the hood and
you know, the connector end had been electrically taped to a dead end. Not
connected..nothing.  Followed the circuit diagram and found that it should
have been connected at the negative pole of the coil. A nice plug was
positioned on that tap...empty. And there was no stretch space left in the
white-green wire. 
SO I whipped up a jumper, powered up the car, and the tach worked great
(although I have no idea about its accuracy).

        The sense of satisfaction!

        BUT THAT is not my mystery. Now that the tach work, why did I gain
approximately 20% of the value of my oil gauge? What had been reading 45 or
so is now over 55?  The ground to the tach had been connected so that
cannot be the source of voltage? drain off the oil gauge. 

        Any ideas???


Bill
**********************************************************************
Dr. Bill Saidel 
Assoc. Prof.                      Vocal phone   (609) 225-6336
Department of Biology             FAX  (609) 225-6312
Science Building                  email:  saidel@crab.rutgers.edu
315 Penn St.
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
Camden, NJ 08102 -1411
http://crab.rutgers.edu/~saidel/saidel.html


"Between the approximation of the idea and the precision
of reality, there is a small gap of the unimaginable."
Milan Kundera - "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"
                                                    





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