The guy I bought my '93 from installed some reverse glow gauges. Not sure if that has anything to do with my problem or not but looking for opinions. My analog Temp (oil and coolant) and battery voltage gauges are not working. The two temp gauges don't move, and the voltage one just spikes when the car is turned on. Could the install of the reverse glow gauges have something to do with this? Should I pull the dash to see if there are bad connections, or would something else be easier to check for first? The digital gauges are working correctly.

Also, what does a manual transmission 93 typically idle at? my tach says about 1000 RPM, but when I got it emission tested the screen (plugged into the cigarette lighter) said it was around 700. Which one is more likely to be right? I'm concerned that if the reverse glow gauges messed up the sensors, they may have messed with the Tach as well. Anyone know a good way to test this?

Thanks,

Richard

 

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

your car idles at 700 rpm if running well. dont know what reverse glow is. is original dash cluster altered for these reverse glow?

 

They are basically different color gauges where the background lights up when the lights are on giving the dash cluster a different look. I'm not sure of the exact process to install them, but there must be some electrical stuff going on, and they are placed over the top of the original gauges, or the originals are removed, and these replace them. Not sure if it is possible for these new gauges to be sitting too low, giving the appearance of RPM being higher than it is. As I said, the emissions place said my RPM was about 700, but I'm not sure how accurate the cigarette lighter Tach is.

 

Is there anything else that could be the problem besides the sensor? Are there any plugs or anything that could have just been not reconnected with the gauge replacement? It sounds like if its the sensor, I should just forget the analog gauge and rely on the digital, but I would really like to get the analog working so I can pay attention to gas mileage or odometer instead of keeping the digital on coolant temp. Any ideas on other things besides the sensor itself?

Thanks,

Richard

 

did the gauges work properly when you bought the car? does your cluster look like any other 93 vette? i dont understand your description of these gauges. are they off to the side, mounted on the window pillar? are they installed inside the stock dash cluster???? or is it just backlighting to the stock gauges?

 

Who knows.
PO could have been a fanatic or a butcher when it came to wiring
Only way would be to get a factory service manual with the wiring circuit diagrams and follow the wires , point to point to see what has been done / added / removed

 

A picture is worth a thousand words: http://www.amazon.com/90-96-Chevy-Co.../dp/B005F11USU

That is what he installed. Not sure if they replace the originals, or just go right over the top, but they look like other 93s just different colors, and light up when lights are on.

As I said, the Temp gauges don't move at all, and the battery voltage spikes when the car is turned on. This has been the behavior the entire time I have owned the car.

On a possibly related note, I got a SYS message a couple days ago, and the last few days my speedometer/digital gauges are going wonky, kind of gibberish random "pixels" set, then going back to normal. I have heard SYS is an indication of a battery, I had some historical codes stored, the CCM had 27, 32, 34, 36, and 38. ECM had 32 and 43. I think my EGR valve needs to be cleaned so that is the 32, and the 43 is from when I removed my knock sensors to flush my radiator. I also have a 28 in module 9 and I have no idea what that is (cant find a list of codes for module 9...though I think it is ABS/ASR) These are all historical and who knows how old they are.

I'll have a look at my service manual when I get home, I was just wondering if someone could tell me off the top of their head if the gauges have a connection behind the gauges that could have been not reconnected, or if someone had installed something similar that hat a "watch out" type of experience and had seen this behavior before.

 

i looked at a cluster from a 92, it appears that the cluster is several parts and that the front clear section is removable and the flat black faceplate could be removed and the white faceplate will install in same location or over it as a decal. all electrical goes thru one multi pin connector. you might pull cluster to check that connector to be firmly connected. sounds like you have to start with each problem as its own, not interconnected. note: the reverse glow plate or decal has a small notch at lower outside corners as does the dash panel, so probably isn't misaligned causing higher tach rpms. at the price of $22 it's got to be a decal.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll start by pulling the dash and seeing if the connector is seated properly, and then go wire by wire there.

Thanks,

Richard