Last night I put in an Oil Pressure, Water Temperature, and Boost gauge. All works well, the water and oil are electrical analog gauges. The only problem I am having is that when there's any other electrical demand, the oil pressure gauge drops rapidly. When the bass his in my car, the oil pressure will drop 20psi, or sitting at a red light with the lights on will do the same thing. Is there anyway around this? It's quite unnerving to sit at a red light with your oil pressure at 0.
But the water temp doesn't do it, and I prefer not to have an oil line running inside the car.
Does the gauges use a 5v or 12v refrence? If it uses 5v like your instrument panel then you can tap into the regulator and should fix it. If it uses 12v, you can make a 12v regulator to keep steady voltage going to the gauges unless your entire electrical system drops below about 12.5v, depending on the voltage regulator you use.
If you are running the stock alternator and a hard hitting system on top of that you may need to upgrade it.
there's nothing dangerous about an oil line inside the car. they use the same mechanical connection that a boost gauge uses....a 1/8" plastic line. a fuel line is what you want to keep out of the drivers compartment.
CHECK YOUR GROUNDS! Especially the smaller one that runs from the battery negative terminal and is connected to the chassis (IIRC) underneath the battery holder. That one can become a big problem. There should also be a metal mesh ground strap that connects to the firewall from the back of the engine. Clean and reconnect both.
Our TC's are 25+ years old and have accumulated that much grime and corrosion. If you still have original battery cables they need to be replaced. Just do it, the cost is minimal and with this and cleaning up the other grounds you'll see a major difference in electrical system performance. First thing you'll notice is how much brighter your headlamps are.
Do you rely on the chassis to be the negative amplifier lead? If so, don't. Install a dedicated large ground (same gauge as the positive lead) between the battery and the amp, you'll like the results. Also, if you don't have one already, install a nice big capacitor right at your amp.
This is what I did and it made a major difference. Oh, yeah - upgrading to a larger alternator is good too if you still have the original size.
Just my 2¢ worth. Good luck.
Joe F Wrote:CHECK YOUR GROUNDS! Especially the smaller one that runs from the battery negative terminal and is connected to the chassis (IIRC) underneath the battery holder. That one can become a big problem. There should also be a metal mesh ground strap that connects to the firewall from the back of the engine. Clean and reconnect both.
Our TC's are 25+ years old and have accumulated that much grime and corrosion. If you still have original battery cables they need to be replaced. Just do it, the cost is minimal and with this and cleaning up the other grounds you'll see a major difference in electrical system performance. First thing you'll notice is how much brighter your headlamps are.
Do you rely on the chassis to be the negative amplifier lead? If so, don't. Install a dedicated large ground (same gauge as the positive lead) between the battery and the amp, you'll like the results. Also, if you don't have one already, install a nice big capacitor right at your amp.
This is what I did and it made a major difference. Oh, yeah - upgrading to a larger alternator is good too if you still have the original size.
Just my 2¢ worth. Good luck.
+1 ON EVERYTHING, GREAT POINTS ON BRINGING UP GROUNDS AND THE CAPACITOR AT THE AMP!
^^ x2 new cables and good clean grounds is a huge difference and definately a 3g alt upgrade...