WallyD

I drive a 95 JDM GC8 that I've had for about 3 years now. Generally, my car runs well, but from time to time small problems appear. At the moment I'm suffering from a bit of an electrical problem (actually, two problems that might or might not be related).

1) First is the tacho. It's been playing up for quite a while now. Sometimes it works ok, but generally it is very inaccurate. It often seems to get stuck at around 2800-3200 rpm. As I accelerate or decelerate it moves up and down, but only between 2800 and 3200. At other times it moves properly up and down, but it shows a number that is about 500rpm higher than the what the engine is actually doing. Eg. I can hear and feel that the engine is doing about 1500rpm, but the tacho shows somewhere between 2000-2200.

2) My stereo. Sometimes I'll be driving along listening to the radio and all of a sudden the stereo will beep, 'ACC' will flash on the display and the aerial will drop back into the car. Then a few seconds later it will beep again, the radio will come back on, the aerial will extend and everything is fine. For about 5 seconds, then the process will repeat. On, off, on, off - its very frustrating. This problem comes and goes. Sometimes I can drive 100 kms without it happening, and at other times at continues from start to finish of a drive. It seems to be particularly bad in wet weather.

These two problems sometimes occur independently, but generally occur together.

My thoughts: Initially I thought it might be a grounding problem that is affecting both the stereo and the tacho at the same time. A couple of weeks ago I cleaned up the grounding points (which seemed to help a little), and I installed the grounding kit mod (which also helped a bit). For a while the problems almost disappeared, then they returned (they now occur less often than they used to but they still occur).

One more thing. Now that the snow had melted here and I'm back to driving fast I have noticed another problem. I seem to have lost a little power, both under regular acceleration and under turbo boost. It's small, and might not even be noticable to someone who doesn't drive the car everyday, but it's definitely noticable to me. Interestingly, when the tacho/radio problem disappears, the power loss problem also seems to disappear, so I'm thinking that they are all related.

Sorry for the long post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

The radio problem sounds like an intermittent poor connection. You have done the ground connection, how about a loose power feed to it?

When the tacho plays up, do any of the other instruments? It sounds like ANOTHER loose connection. I sincerely hope it's not a soldered joint, say on the back of the fusebox...........my eldest had one on his Ibiza, it took them 4 days ato find it, and loads of hours of raving the wiring out. Luckily it was under warranty.

Power loss? Does your cel show anything? I'd be inclined to get the thing put on a diagnostic, just to see if any faults are stored.

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Does the stereo have a speed pickup to adjust the volume when driving?

WallyD

Thanks for the replies.

Tanya, the tacho and the stereo are the only electrical parts that are having any problems. Everything else is fine. There is no CEL and no codes have been stored. The power loss is really only a minor power loss. If I had to give it a number, I'd say it's about a 5% loss.

Bob, I'm not really sure what you mean by speed pickup, but it's just a regular stereo with a cassette HU on top and a CD player underneath. Apart from the intermittent problem I described, it works fine.

garetgax

iTrader: (3)

Wally speed pick up is where the stereo adjusts the volume when you go above normally 50 ish to compensate for increased wind noise. On the fuse wiring had any probs with your central locking? There on the same fuse. Also might be worth checking your alternator although is all the other electrics are fine probably not that. That may account for the power loss though.

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

As regards the stereo, I'd be inclined to carefully check the wiring at the rear, including all plugs/sockets etc, looking for loose connections, loose pins in the connectors etc.