Tach Not Working

Just got back from Florida with the latest addition to the fleet- an '89 dohc 5 speed. That was a 700 mile 13 hour drive. Engine would not idle which was interesting at stoplights.........3 bottles of Techron injection cleaner and 29 gallons of premium cured that problem. Tach, fuel gauge only going down to 1/2 full and odometer not working are the remaining problems. I am guessing the odo. is stripped gear(s), the fuel gauge is sending unit. Tach I have no clue. Any guesses?

Just got back from Florida with the latest addition to the fleet- an '89 dohc 5 speed. That was a 700 mile 13 hour drive. Engine would not idle which was interesting at stoplights.........3 bottles of Techron injection cleaner and 29 gallons of premium cured that problem. Tach, fuel gauge only going down to 1/2 full and odometer not working are the remaining problems. I am guessing the odo. is stripped gear(s), the fuel gauge is sending unit. Tach I have no clue. Any guesses?

Try taking a look at the back of the inst. cluster, someone might have had it off while looking to see what problem was with ODO and you might get lucky and re-seating the plug connects could fix both problems, by the way, nice addition to the fleet.

Will pull the cluster and see what gives.

Thanks for the compliment. This is a great car. 59k miles+, one owner, window sticker, umbrella and tool kit, $20k worth of receipts for service and repairs, all the issues of the TC club newsletter. It is also a blast to drive! My problem now is which to have a fun cruise in - my Alfa romeo or the new TC. TC has a/c so it is the hot weather choice which reminds me of another problem- only blows through defroster vents. I figure a vacuum problem.

Will pull the cluster and see what gives.

Thanks for the compliment. This is a great car. 59k miles+, one owner, window sticker, umbrella and tool kit, $20k worth of receipts for service and repairs, all the issues of the TC club newsletter. It is also a blast to drive! My problem now is which to have a fun cruise in - my Alfa romeo or the new TC. TC has a/c so it is the hot weather choice which reminds me of another problem- only blows through defroster vents. I figure a vacuum problem.

That is vacuum, look to see if feed line to vent control is flapping loose and dangling a little above and to right of gas peddle. may have pulled free from or may have check valve attached and be easier to spot.

You have an Alfa and a TC so I have a question. Have been told that there is a Delco brake pump that except for plug connect is identical size, shape pressure to original which came with some Alfa's and all TC's and that some Alfa club members have been replacing their brake pumps with the Declo pump that sells new for half the price. Have you heard anything like this and if you have can you get the Delco part number?

My Alfa is a 1976 and does not have ABS- just old style booster and master cylinder. I have no knowledge of the later Alfa systems but I do remember reading someplace that Buick Grand National had a system like the TC's

Try a search on the Alfa BB:

http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/

Will pull the cluster and see what gives.

Thanks for the compliment. This is a great car. 59k miles+, one owner, window sticker, umbrella and tool kit, $20k worth of receipts for service and repairs, all the issues of the TC club newsletter. It is also a blast to drive! My problem now is which to have a fun cruise in - my Alfa romeo or the new TC. TC has a/c so it is the hot weather choice which reminds me of another problem- only blows through defroster vents. I figure a vacuum problem.

Turned on my AC for the first time this summer and it blew out the defrost, vent control not working. Looked under dash and everything was where it should be, found this under the hood. Hard to spot even when you look close as plastic vacuum line melts away when it touches the exhaust.

I checked under the dash and did not find any dangling lines. Traced back from the firewall under the hood and found broken vacuum line under the air filter area. Repaired and voilà- air blowing from the appropriate vent when selected. Now I have to track down freon leak- charge lasted a week and is 0 psi now. Grrrrr.........

I checked under the dash and did not find any dangling lines. Traced back from the firewall under the hood and found broken vacuum line under the air filter area. Repaired and voilà- air blowing from the appropriate vent when selected. Now I have to track down freon leak- charge lasted a week and is 0 psi now. Grrrrr.........

Always irritating. If you had cold air blowing through the defrost vent before adding freon your first best place to look is the high and low pressure valve core's. These things don't get a lot of use and many a time these don't close tight when they haven't been touched for years. Always irritating to test a system as leak free with the gauge set on and find it empty the next day, if this is the cause and it sat in the garage for any length of time, you should see an oil puddle that lines up with system ports.

Actually for a loss that large and fast finding where the oil left with the gas should leave an easy to find oily spot. Slower leaks take UV freon and sometimes sniffers to find.

How do you check the valves- spit like a tire valve? Then I will have to go to town and get some leak detector and find my UV light. BTW Big Lots has R-134 at $6.50/ can here. Not a bad price if you don't want to buy a big jug at Sams.

How do you check the valves- spit like a tire valve? Then I will have to go to town and get some leak detector and find my UV light. BTW Big Lots has R-134 at $6.50/ can here. Not a bad price if you don't want to buy a big jug at Sams.

Checking the valves for open and close is just like the tire, checking the valves for leakage is putting some freon into the system, screwing the cover caps down tight today and listening closely when you unscrew them tomorrow, if you hear any pssst, it leaks. These do replace like tire valves and some are even the same size. If you are loosing your full charge in a week and you can't find your UV light get three cans of UV, and you should have enough green around the hole to see with the naked eye.