Tachometer Stopped Working

[RALPHIE]

Got my car back up in running and prior to that i had never used the battery tender ,i decided to leave it hooked up while i performed some mods to my GT .When i finished i started my car and all my gauges were dead .I left the battery disconnected for about an hour and connected and they worked ,it seems that anybody that uses the tender has gauge problems and considering this plugs into the lighter it could be related ,just my 2cents and im never using the tender again

Which tender - the OEM Ford unit, or an aftermarket device?

 

[fjpikul]

Go back to the car mags - axle bolts broke and it was written up for all to see.

 

[racelance]

Got my car back up in running and prior to that i had never used the battery tender ,i decided to leave it hooked up while i performed some mods to my GT .When i finished i started my car and all my gauges were dead .I left the battery disconnected for about an hour and connected and they worked ,it seems that anybody that uses the tender has gauge problems and considering this plugs into the lighter it could be related ,just my 2cents and im never using the tender again

I'm glad your gauges work again, unfortunately I know the feeling when they don't work. I'm surprised your gauges worked after disconnecting the battery. Ironically enough I haven't tried that YET - but certainly will. I know a few people on here have disconnected but didn't have any success. Glad you're cars not missing a beat and thanks for the post.

Lance

 

[RALPHIE]

Other than our gals, who has ever had a gauge fail in another automobile?

Even my 1930 Chevy (high school car) had all of its gauges fully functional. Only gauges I ever replaced were on my boat when it got swamped once. No one in my family (parents, grandparents, children, etc.) or my friends has ever had a vehicle's gauge go south.

Yet, it would be very difficult to have a recall when so many are failing past the warranty period, as they wouldn't be shipped to Ford for examination. Thus, without sufficient factory testing, they would be reluctant to replace units. Clearly though, there is an underlying problem that has not been determined, as I don't believe that the gauges are failing on their own (except for needles falling off).

 

[ViperJoe]

No one in my family (parents, grandparents, children, etc.) or my friends has ever had a vehicle's gauge go south.

Exactly!

 

[MAD IN NC]

Got my car back up in running and prior to that i had never used the battery tender ,i decided to leave it hooked up while i performed some mods to my GT .When i finished i started my car and all my gauges were dead .I left the battery disconnected for about an hour and connected and they worked ,it seems that anybody that uses the tender has gauge problems and considering this plugs into the lighter it could be related ,just my 2cents and im never using the tender again

Extreme - be sure to check the battery ground...... use the search function.

Rumor is the electrical design team used Aston Martin and Jaquar engineers for the consultancy some say since this car is aluminum........ just a rumor...... but that was a nice Jaquar station wagon Fred Goodnow was driving at R1 :biggrin

 

[KMCBOSS]

Got my car back up in running and prior to that i had never used the battery tender ,i decided to leave it hooked up while i performed some mods to my GT .When i finished i started my car and all my gauges were dead .I left the battery disconnected for about an hour and connected and they worked ,it seems that anybody that uses the tender has gauge problems and considering this plugs into the lighter it could be related ,just my 2cents and im never using the tender again

I guess the next question is..........has anyone had a guage failure that never used a battery tender OEM or otherwise?

 

[dealmaker]

This is worrying me!

I don't have the "official" Ford battery tender - so I am uisng the Porsche one that came with my Carrera GT - so far so good - but wonder.....would it be better to remove the battery and charge it on the bench when the car isnt going to be used for a while?? :confused

 

[hollywoodstunts]

Basically, that even though not all GT owners are registered here; nor do all component failure register as votes or forum posts....the axle-bolt issue occured enought times, and enough unique posters raised or posted under this framework....that it became evident that a service/upgrade should be done.

I went back in Nov and counted every single unique post for this issue going back to 2005, and counted about 25 unique user posts; I pm'd those folks and put up the survey with <40 votes.

%'s
---

40 / 4008 cars
40 / 1000 registered members
40 / 500 active registered members?
40 / 200 clients of Forum vendor service provider

kayvan;
Not sure what side you're on, and don't understand what point you are trying to make. But I have contacted Auto Meter and they said their failure rates are measured in the 10th of a percent. By your numbers, pulled from 1/4 of the total number of cars produced, we have a 1% failure rate, with more being added as this thread continues.
If we multiply the number of failures (40) by 4, ( the total number of cars not in the forum, or represented in your survey) we get a total of 160, or almost 5%.
The representative from Auto Meter said,"5% would be a huge number to see fail and I can't imagine that Ford wouldn't have reported something if that were the case."
Well folks, we're somewhere between 1% and 5%. So far, haven't heard anyone with a gauge failure on any other vehicle, and we're alredy outside of Auto Meter's failure rates.
What's the next step?

 

[Kayvan]

kayvan;
Not sure what side you're on, and don't understand what point you are trying to make.

On the Ford GT Owners side.

The #s are not same magnitude as other recall/service upgrades.

 

[Thugboat]

MY 2 Cents!

I bought my car last Jan. This is it's 1 yr anniversary, and it was still on the showroom floor. They had let the battery run down several times while on display and used the tender to catch back up at times. We had to jump start the car the day I drove it off the showroom. I noticed immediately the oil guage wasn't working. Since I was the first owner I had the warranty. They replaced guage with no questions, lucky I guess. I have driven the car often since purchase, Had to buy a new optima battery the first week I had the car. The GT battery tested good but wasn't. I have driven the car every week since purchase and no more guage problems. I have never had a tender on it! So, while on showroom floor and using tender guage dies, driving the car every week and no tender , no guage problems. I do not know this makes a difference to the overall problems everyone is having, but I thought I would just add my experiences. But, I really hope this isn't a jinx thread and now that I have contributed I will have problems!!!:willy:willy

Larry Boatner

BTW- Kevin (KO SUPPLY) had to replace his control module and wasn't happy!!!

 

[BlackICE]

I have been told that the gauges may be getting killed by voltage spikes from the cars electrical system. All of the gauges are supplied a nominal 12v DC from the Gauge Control Module (GCM). This module has two feeds one of 15A unswitched and another at 10A switched. I believe the gauges are supplied from the 10A switched supply circuit, but that would need to be verified.

So far my gauges are fine, but all of these discussions have me somewhat concerned that it could happen to anyone for any reason. So I have looked into how one could minimize the rumored spike damage from occurring. I have found this paper on what the problem could be and how one may solve it.

Is there any interest in having a product to address potential power spikes to the gauges? Maybe we could convince Jay to add that product to his list for sale. As if he didn't already have enough on his plate.


http://www.digikey.com/Web Export/Supplier Content/Tyco_8004/PDF/Tyco_AutoNetwork.pdf

 

[ViperJoe]

What's the next step?

First time ever that I've though about the unthinkable! Since 2 of the 3 cars in my immediate area have had gauge failures (coincidence?), and based upon failures reported on this forum, I'm concerned that the actual failure rate may be far greater than we know. I've owned upwards of 100 cars and never once have I had a gauge fail ..... until now! Something appears to be seriously wrong here.

 

[hollywoodstunts]

Kayvan;
Since we're well outside Auto Meter's own standard failure rates, at what point will these failures warrant action on Ford's part?

 

[BlackICE]

Kayvan;
Since we're well outside Auto Meter's own standard failure rates, at what point will these failures warrant action on Ford's part?

Not up to Auto Meter. It would a Ford's decision and I don't think we really know the real failure rate. The estimates may be high or low. Posts on this board don't necessarily reflect reality.

The Auto Meter gauges may be fine and built to meet and exceed all of Ford's specs, but the GCM may be allowing out of spec supply voltages or signals to get to the gauges. Or the gauges may be out of spec. Or failures could be owner caused, e.g. jump starting the cars. On Fchat is recommended that you never jump start a late model Fcar or you may fry the ecu or instruments!

 

[hollywoodstunts]

According to the person I spoke with at Auto Meter,
"It is pretty rare for an Auto Meter tach to break down after such a short period of time. This particular unit was built to Ford's specification and doesn't really share its components with our off the shelf product."
I understand it is not up to Auto Meter, that's why I'm asking what amount of failures will cause action on Ford's part? How do we get an accurate number of failures? Would anyone at Ford give that information out?

 

[MAD IN NC]

Does anybody know if Autometer is precluded from repairing the tachs? Has anybody asked?

 

[hollywoodstunts]

Auto Meter is contractually obligated not to repair or sell GT tach's to anyone but Ford Motor Company.

 

[nota4re]

I still don't see the linkage that people are trying to make between battery tenders (OEM or otherwise) and the gauge failures. Here's a few data points:

1. My car is on a Battery Tender almost full time. The car gets driven at least every other week and more often in the summer. The tender has been plugged, un-plugged numerous times. I've not experienced any gauge problems.

2. I would say that MidniteBlu's experience is similar to mine. Both cars full-time on Battery Tenders and one car frequently connected/disconnected as it is driven more than the other. The other car very infrequently connected/disconnected. No gauge problems.

3. Local car coming in this week has 2 gauge failures - Tach and Oil pressure. The car is driven frequently and has never seen a battery tender.

4. We repaired a car a few weeks back that had some issues because someone connected the battery BACKWARDS. We replaced the alternator and several fuses and the car was fine. No gauge problems.


Regarding Autometer, I am not a fan of theirs any longer as I do not respect their arrogant, non-helpful, attitude of the managers I spoke to at SEMA.

There's a problem here - that's for sure. Owners shouldn't have to be spending $600+ for a gauge and another ~$300 for replacement for a product that should be expected to last the lifetime of the car.

 

[hollywoodstunts]

Nota4re,
If you can get a GT tach for $600, I'll take one.
From what I understand they are just under $3000.