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1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks Discuss the Early Eighties Bullnose Ford Truck

Tach problems

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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 10:44 AM
  #1  
cfrives3's Avatar
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Tach problems

My tach likes to not work when the temps drop. I am very familiar with the process of removing the cluster for room to work on other stuff in the dash, general cleaning, replacing light bulbs, etc. Would I be just as well off to pick up another cluster at a yard? I know that the individual gauges are removeable, so is there something I can clean or regrease in there?

I also would not be opposed to something aftermarket, but I will NOT butcher my dash. It seems that there is nothing offered for this era of trucks for say white faced gauges and things of that nature. Has anyone seen anything for these trucks? Has anyone done anything that came out really nice.

P.S. I like lots of pics if anyone has modified their gauges!
 
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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 12:06 PM
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I forget exactly who it was, but someone on here did their gauges in white several months back....I think his screename was Fairfield, or something like that. At any rate, it looked really sharp. Took some work though. There were pictures in the string if you've got the time to search for it.
 
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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 12:15 PM
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Originally Posted by ri_truck_guy
There were pictures in the string if you've got the time to search for it.
Cool. I'll look for it!
 
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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 12:31 PM
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I found it...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...painted+gauges
 
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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 01:55 PM
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IMO, white face gauges don't look right in these trucks.

It makes it look too modern. The factory tach is only held in with two nuts and is easy to change.

I don't think that there is anything that can be "greased" in them. They are electrical, not mechanical.

I just posted about painting my needles Garnet red and installing Blue LED's. I won't be able to see the LED's until tonight, so the jury is still out on whether I like them or not.
 
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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 02:13 PM
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Make sure the contacts are clean where the wiring harness connector plugs into the printed wiring on the cluster. A pencil eraser and some electrical contact cleaner works well. Also make sure the connector is fully seated into the cluster.
 
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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 02:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Piffery1
A pencil eraser and some electrical contact cleaner works well.
An ink eraser works much better.
 
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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 03:54 PM
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Originally Posted by uncle.stosh
IMO, white face gauges don't look right in these trucks.
Believe it or not, I agree. However, my truck is completely wimbledon white with blue interior. I was thinking that it might look really nice, match my aftermarket gauges, and light them up with blue.

Waiting to see yours lit up.
 
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Old Mar 27, 2008 | 05:34 PM
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I painted a guage cluster white and the needles red it looked good and all that but at night it didn't light up worth a crap I even took out the blue bulb dome colors and tried different colr bulbs but nothing worked that well. As a means to remedy faded needles I painted them with regular white paint and I can see them just fine at night.

As far as the tach not working I read somewhere that one of the elctrical components in the tach assembly will fail after getting too much heat. Causing it to fail
 
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