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Hahaha I've got a fifteen year old Bosh dishwasher and the only problem Ive ever had is that it’s so quiet that I’ve opened more than a few times when it’s running.
Couple questions that some of you reading this might be able to answer, right now my dash has -
Ammeter (may or may not be already bypassed, the needle either barely moves, or does not move at all)
Speedometer
Fuel gauge
Additionally, I have an aftermarket temperature gauge mounted by the previous owner in a spot where it is almost impossible to actually see while driving, it's down under the dash to the left of the steering wheel, but blocked by the steering wheel while driving. I would like to get an oil pressure gauge and a voltmeter installed, as well move the temp gauge somewhere.
First, if I was able to find a cluster from a truck someone was parting out that had an oil pressure gauge, is it possible to retrofit that? I'd need to be able to adjust the mileage to match what is on my current odometer, as well I think pick up the required wiring and such for the oil pressure gauge to work. Maybe more trouble than it is worth.
If that is not possible, is it difficult to add an aftermarket oil pressure and voltmeter gauge? Trying to figure out what all I would need in order to install and get them working.
Adding aftermarket oil pressure and voltmeter is relatively easy. Summit and other places have them. On another thought. Maybe fix the existing volt and water gauge. It's been some time but I believe that dash comes apart quite easily. I recall the cluster on the late 70s and early 80s (cars like the Aspens) were held in by black plastic pins that just pulled outward. We didn't have to crawl under the dash.
The worst part of the whole job is if the plastic is all melted and cracked and broken.....
But you have options to repair....
I made my own replacement assembly... Works good for me... I did keep all the old parts incase I come across a good replacement, But I haven't been looking to hard..
The vent window rubber and beltline trim seem to not be quite in the right spot, hoping they loosen up a little and settle where they should be. But, I now have 2 working windows so that's a win.
Ended up paying a little more than I'd have liked for a rust covered regulator, but was striking out almost everywhere I called. 10 minutes with a wire wheel, some wd40 and lubrication and it's working just fine.
But, my heater controls do not move towards the hot side, they move about 1/4 of the way over from cold and then stop. So, before I get the anode installed, I need to figure out the heater controls.
Quoted myself here, dropped the glovebox earlier to see if I could figure this out any. If I pop the cable off from the top of the blend door, it moves freely back and forth, I can manipulate the door by hand on top of the heater box, but it is really stiff. With it freed up a little, I can then reconnect the cable and it moves a little, but it is incredibly stiff. Is there a way to lubricate the door itself? I can spray the top with WD40, but I am not sure how successful that will be, is it possible to open up the box and lubricate from the inside as well?
Its kind of hard to say.... Sometimes the issues are leaves and trash down in the box, and sometimes its the door seal just fell off and is blocking the movement and sometimes its just rusty on the shafts...
If you have a borescope, you can remove the ducting, motor resister, blower motor, and have a look down inside and see what is needed. But if you have to remove the blower / A/C box, some of those can be a real bear to do, and the old plastic is not very forgiving in some cases..
As for the cables... Mine where not to hard to get off, So I just took them off and socked them in pan of ATF and worked the cable back and forth.... Also Check the cable for kinks and straighten those while you have them out. Check the lever of the controller and make sure the levers are not bent from someone trying to force the doors open and closed...
Thanks, hoping to not have to remove the box to get into there especially as you wrote, old plastic. I think for now at least, I'll try adding some lube from the top and just work it back and forth, I can move it the full range of motion by the top of the door, just not with the cable itself. I did see a video of a guy cutting a maintenance hole in the front of his box, but I am somewhat reluctant to go that route, just don't really want to cut factory plastic.
Oh.. is it possible to get the thread title changed? Assume I would need to contact a moderator to do so, but figured I should change it to something more relevant.
Just a word of caution. Those cables bend quite easily, usually at the control panel area. I wouldn't push hard on them. Yes, The box could have debris in there or just be bound up at the swivel points.
Managed to get it moving pretty freely, a few blasts of WD40, back and forth manually at the box, rinse and repeat. Lever on the controls is moving nicely now and moving the door, the issue now is that the red piece in the picture below moves up, which in turn moves the cable up until it slips off the pivot there. I am trying to think of the best way to, reversibly, secure the red box which should prevent that happening.
Epoxy of some kind would work, but make life difficult for any possible future maintenance or issues. I half wonder if something as simple as some electrical tape will be strong enough to hold it, easily removeable, but hopefully strong enough to hold the red piece down. It does not look like there is a broken clip on there, so I am not sure what should hold it in place.
Fixed the shift indicator earlier today, pulled the dash trim and saw the little cable just hanging there under the gauges. A little fishing to get it through to where it hooks to the shifter and done.
Does anytime know if there is something like this available but in black...https://www.whitegauges.net/products/1990%252d1993-Dodge-Ram-White-Heater-Control-Overlay-HVAC.html
Mine is all messed up, a control box is not cheap (just based on eBay prices) but all I need is the overlay. I just don't want white!
Last edited by Abcdefghii; 03-27-2024 at 06:39 PM.
WD40 is actually a degreaser and when it dries it will not lubricate anymore. Additionally is attracts dust and clogs things up. I would suggest getting cable lubricant and spraying that in there. In regard to the oil pressure gauge I am not as familiar as the others on here but what I have seen when it is in a dash cluster they are electro-mechanical gaugess and not very reliable. An after market mechanical gauge is the way to go there. Somebody pipe in if I am incorrect on these older dash panels.
I'll add some actual lubricant in a couple days after I've moved it back and forth about a hundred more times to fully free it up.
Started work on these gauges today...
It's the spot where the factory digital clock was. When I got the truck, the clock wasn't working, while cleaning up some wiring I found it was disconnected and then the while thing just fell apart. With that being wasted space I figured a pair of 2" gauges might just fit.
Easy to read while driving and don't stick out like a sore thumb. There's also a light on the HVAC controls there that I can tap into for the gauge lights.
They are not connected yet, I'm torn on whether to run the voltmeter direct to the alternator, to the battery with via relay, or a switched 12v inside the cab. I ordered a fuse box earlier to add extra circuits (need switched 12v for a radio for example) and maybe swap the fusible links for regular fuses.
The oil pressure gauge I need a 1/8 npt tee fitting. I have to retain the existing idiot light sensor as I beleive it's tied into the choke, so need the T in order to connect the gauge and keep the original. No luck at the local hardware store, Lowe's or Home Depot. If anyone knows where I can find one of these let me know...
Gauge Fittings 1/8 NPT Tee 2pk ALL50138 on sale now plus all the racing parts you need at Allstar Performance allstarperformance.com
If you're wondering why I don't just order that one, I was about 5 seconds from doing so, but the $30 shipping was about $20 too much. Especially as that fitting could easily fit in a small flat rate box.
Edit: found this, but I'm not certain if it's the right size since it says 1/4" 18npt
Ended up having to order a tee, while it said in stock, it actually wasn't.
Now, a question that may well be operator error, but bear with me. When the truck is warmed up, it's a pain to start. Cold starts, fine, almost always first turn of the key. I get in, pump gas pedal twice, turn key and it starts.
When it's warm, get in, turn key, it might start, it might not. Sometimes it'll start but make an odd sound, sometimes it'll crank but not start right away. I don't believe I should need to pump the gas pedal when it's warmed up but maybe that's the operator error.
It's making me nervous to go that many places because I'm not sure if it'll start with the engine warm. If not operator error, what could it be?
While warm.........The fuel could be boiling/evaporating in the bowl. All ethanol needs is 175 degrees to boil. That's not my first guess because it hasn't been that warm, but i wanted to put it out there.
1. Look down the carburetor after shutting it down and see if fuel is dripping down inside. (could be flooding it with fuel) caused by needle seat leaking or too high of float setting.
2. Try pumping several times and see if it starts right away. If it does, there's your answer that's what works.
3. Timing....check to see you're on the mark. Retarded timing could cause hard starting.
Of course I'm assuming you have good plugs etc. I can't tell you how many times the old Mopars just wouldn't fire and run on AC plugs. Toyota in the day had an issue with Champion plugs.
Thanks, I'll check those things next time I take it for a drive, just as an example of how it was yesterday....
Started it around 9am and drove about 5 miles to destination, first turn of the key no issues.
Started it again around 1:30pm, no issues.
Turned it off about 2pm and then on again around 2:30pm, pain in the *** to start, what eventually got it was a few pumps of the pedal and cursing. But, I always worry when pumping the pedal of flooding it.
Any recommended spark plugs? I have not changed them, so that is actually not a bad place to start anyway with both possibly fixing the hot start as well as some maintenance that could be due or overdue.
Ordered some Autolite, they should be ready tomorrow. Hopefully no issues getting the old ones out, I'm reminded of plugs that are a nightmare to get at on a 2000 F150 or the ones that break apart in a 2008 Explorer.
Ford sometimes is a nightmare with their plugs and heads stripping. The best thing to prevent a problem with Ford is changing the plugs out at least every 30K. Leaving them in for 100k is asking for problems. You should be fine with your 318. I worked on tons of 318s and I never even heard of a spark plug head issue. Would be a good time to check the compression when all the plugs are out.
With all the plugs out, place the compression gauge (screw hose into cylinder) and spin the engine over for at least 3 compression pumps (you'll hear it). You'll see the gauge go up until it doesn't, that's your reading. Below is a cheap one from Amazon that should work fine.
That's much cheaper than I expected, watched some videos as well, seems simple enough. Not sure if I'll do it this go around, but simple enough to remove the plugs and test when I pick up the tester.
Different topic, trying to think where I want to connect the voltmeter. I can easily connect to a circuit inside the cab, but I'm not sure that really tells me much useful info. What I would prefer, given the recent voltage regulator issue, is to have it read battery voltage. That way if the regulator fails, I'll see it right away.
Based on that, could I use a relay on the starter solenoid ignition terminal to turn the gauge on and off with the key, with the ignition on it would read battery voltage, which seems far more useful than simply say the radio circuit. Should I add a fuse to the power wire going to the gauge?
Yes, you could hook a wire to any 12-volt source which will tell you battery voltage. You're correct the volt gauge is only good to alert you as long as you check on it. My Mopar (Dart) has a gauge that has been quite helpful, I refer to it regularly while driving. The relay will work fine, just use the smaller wire on the relay which isn't used for starter draw. Any hot wire should be fused and that one should be fused in case of it grounding out after rubbing or the gauge grounding. I know it's unlikely but it's a must.
Could I use the cigarette lighter for the feed to the voltmeter? I am never going to use the cigarette lighter, it has power and ground almost right next to where the gauge is mounted, would make a simple run for the wiring, I could simply disconnect the wires at the lighter and extend them up to the gauge using an inline fuse on the hot wire.
The cigar lighter I believe has power to it even with the key off, which isn't going to work. If that's the case you'll drain the battery with the gauge on all the time. If it doesn't have power with the key off you won't need to fuse it because the cigar lighter power is already fused through the fuse box. I would push the lighter in and see if it gets hot with the key off.
Good point, more often than not those lighters are always on. I looked at mine, it's rusty, not sure I want to chance testing it to see if it heats up with the key on or off! I might just get the multimeter or test light and check at the wires themselves on the rear of it since I can see them looking up under the dash.
Edit: Yep, you were right, constant power at the cigarette lighter. I could splice into the switched 12V for the radio, it is also easily accessible right there and fused.
Last edited by Abcdefghii; 04-03-2024 at 12:47 PM.
03-24-2024, 03:46 PM
Yes!! it's a great loosener but not a lubricant!!
allstarperformance.com
