Gauge Failure Prevention

[Joehand1]

This may have already been posted, but I'll be Captain Obvious here.

With us long time owners we have seen through the years multiple instrument gauge failures resulting in costly and time consuming issues in replacing them. I had times when the tach and fuel gauges would not initially work until I stopped and started the car if it had sat more than a week. A long time ago Shelby Smith warned me to replace the original battery with a Sears Die Hard if this was happening, but eventually it started with the Die Hard....

So the last 6 months I have left a smart charger on the battery when it sits and I no longer have any intermittent gauge malfunctions which I think leads to permanent failure. I know there are now replacement gauges that don't have these issues, but a 50 dollar smart charger from your local parts store seems to be a sure fire preventive measure for the dreaded gauge failure issue of the 2005-2006 Ford GT.

I do not think those crappy cigarette chargers can do this.

 

[Sinovac]

This may have already been posted, but I'll be Captain Obvious here.

With us long time owners we have seen through the years multiple instrument gauge failures resulting in costly and time consuming issues in replacing them. I had times when the tach and fuel gauges would not initially work until I stopped and started the car if it had sat more than a week. A long time ago Shelby Smith warned me to replace the original battery with a Sears Die Hard if this was happening, but eventually it started with the Die Hard....

So the last 6 months I have left a smart charger on the battery when it sits and I no longer have any intermittent gauge malfunctions which I think leads to permanent failure. I know there are now replacement gauges that don't have these issues, but a 50 dollar smart charger from your local parts store seems to be a sure fire preventive measure for the dreaded gauge failure issue of the 2005-2006 Ford GT.

I do not think those crappy cigarette chargers can do this.

I've used the larger Battery Tender since 2006 and have never had a gauge failure. I have no idea if related, but those are the facts.

 

[DWR46]

Plus 2 for having a smart charger on the car 24/7.

 

[stilllookin]

Plus 2 for having a smart charger on the car 24/7.

Battery tender’s are the best storage chargers I have tried. I presently use 15 of them. One has been on my GT almost st since new. It still has the original battery going strong. I have however had the oil pressure gauge fail and the several years later the engine temp fail.

 

[twobjshelbys]

Having a full time battery tender and a brand new battery didn't save my boost gauge.

The only thing that is 100% sure is to swap out the cluster.

 

[PeteK]

If you drive your car regularly, you won't have to put a battery charger on it. Just sayin'.

 

[FlagstaffGT]

If you drive your car regularly, you won't have to put a battery charger on it. Just sayin'.

Yep.

 

[Mike Mosing]

If you drive your car regularly, you won't have to put a battery charger on it. Just sayin'.

When I bought Camilo's Blue moon car the Speedometer had to be changed out. He had 22000 miles on it so I don't think just driving it saves anything. I think it is just a piss pour design of a gauge. IMHO.

 

[Joehand1]

Well so far the smart charger seems to be working for me.

BTW ditch those original batteries, they are 11 years old and I still think weak batteries exacerbate this problem.

 

[bonehead]

I've had a CTEK on my car as soon as it's parked since the day I bought it. I don't have the time to drive it as much as I should, but I've put about 13K miles on it since 2012. I've had 2 gauge failures, one since I installed analogdesiger's device. I always wait for the gauges to initialize before I start the car. There is no rhyme or reason to when or why these fail. I finally just bought all the replacements offered by Autometer and had them installed at my last service with M2K. Have never been a fan of the aftermarket look of the Speedhuts. Now all I have to worry about are the 'big' gauges (speedo and tach).

 

[Nafod]

i Like the CTEK though I still use the Ford provided one since new. Only gauge failure also had the prevention device. Volt meter... go figure.
Replaced with the Autometer. The battery was replaced and will probably become routine maintenance item every 3-4 years.

 

[nautoncall]

The plug in cigarette charger has worked well for me. Only problem I had was I forgot to plug it in a month or so ago. Went to start the car.... well I couldn’t even get in the car. Opened it with the key. Took the tray out of the front bonnet. Hooked up my charger to AGM setting. It was reading 7 volts. It would charge 30 minutes and go off. Used my battery tester and it was actually 10.5v. So I was thinking my battery was bad. (My first experience with a dead AGM). I searched dead AGM and it took me to options. I tried the tricking the charger to stay on by hooking it to a regular battery then running parallel with jumper cables to my AGM. Viola!! 30 minutes later I was over 11.5 volts and my charger then recognized the AGM and charged right up directly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PeteK]

When I bought Camilo's Blue moon car the Speedometer had to be changed out. He had 22000 miles on it so I don't think just driving it saves anything. I think it is just a piss pour design of a gauge. IMHO.

Mike, I wasn't referring to the gauge problems, but the problem of keeping your battery charged up, by driving it regularly. I agree, the gauges are defective, and it seems that they just fail without rhyme or reason. However, many of us have all or almost all original gauges, so I suspect it's a quality issue, rather than, or in addition to, a design problem. I also let the gauges and odometer initialize before I hit the start button.

 

[bret a ewing]

.......................... I've had 2 gauge failures, one since I installed analogdesiger's device. .....................................

This is disappointing news. I had high hopes for this alleged remedy. (Installed in both cars) Back to the drawing board for root cause and correctives actions.

 

[twobjshelbys]

Back to the drawing board for root cause and correctives actions.

Way past any window for that. It shall forever remain a mystery (at least to us).

 

[bret a ewing]

*** Delete ****

 

[daytrayd]

I dont know if its true, but my mechanic said its from lack of use, something about the oil in the gauges gets "sticky" or something like that. Hadnt heard that, he owns a FGT fwiw and services a bunch. He just replaced my fuel gauge.

 

[Xcentric]

I dont know if its true, but my mechanic said its from lack of use, something about the oil in the gauges gets "sticky" or something like that. Hadnt heard that, he owns a FGT fwiw and services a bunch. He just replaced my fuel gauge.

Well now, this is a perfect example of what can happen when you don't change your gauge oil regularly. And don't cheap out on Walmart gauge oil either. Always change the gauge oil filter too.

 

[PeteK]

Well now, this is a perfect example of what can happen when you don't change your gauge oil regularly. And don't cheap out on Walmart gauge oil either. Always change the gauge oil filter too.

Just like the air conditioning fluid. :lol

 

[timcantwell]

Battery tender’s are the best storage chargers I have tried. I presently use 15 of them. One has been on my GT almost st since new. It still has the original battery going strong. I have however had the oil pressure gauge fail and the several years later the engine temp fail.

I agree that the Battery Tenders are very good, as I have about a dozen myself. I also use the CTech on six of my cars, also very good. I’ve started using the smaller 750 ma version of the Battery Tender float charge exclusively for my Optima batteries. AGM and gel-cell batteries cannot be charged or maintained with high amperage charger. I lost two Optima batteries which died an early death because I had them on a standard 1.5 amp battery tender intended for flooded cell batteries.