Printable Version | Subscribe | Add to Favourites
New Topic New Poll New Reply
Author: Subject: vdo rev counter reading half speed
john_p_b

posted on 9/4/06 at 11:42 AM Reply With Quote
vdo rev counter reading half speed

changed my ignition set up a couple of weeks back from points to electronic but there's still the good old coil there that the tacho connects to. sinse changing the coil and dizzy my tacho is now only reading half revs.

when i set my igintion the other night the timing light was reading 997rpm and the tacho was reading just under 500rpm so it's literally half!

any ideas as to why this is happening?





built a car, built a home, had a family. lost the family, lost the home, still got the car.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
mandbsheldon

posted on 9/4/06 at 11:46 AM Reply With Quote
May be it's turning into a BEC

Leigh
Sorry nothing constructive to say

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
john_p_b

posted on 9/4/06 at 11:57 AM Reply With Quote
no such luck there leigh, i can get myself in enough trouble with the great lump of cast iron up the front so i think make it much faster and my dad would be getting his garage back and a spare room in the house





built a car, built a home, had a family. lost the family, lost the home, still got the car.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
flak monkey

posted on 9/4/06 at 01:24 PM Reply With Quote
What tacho have you got John?

You might just need to change the number of pulses per revolution that the tacho is counting if possible. Its physically not changed obviously (assuming all 4 cylinders are firing...i.e. getting a spark) but for some reason your tacho isnt seeing the right number of pulses.

David





Sera

http://www.motosera.com

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
mookaloid

posted on 9/4/06 at 01:24 PM Reply With Quote
It might help if we knew what sort of ignition you have fitted
View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
auzziejim

posted on 9/4/06 at 02:21 PM Reply With Quote
could it be anything to do with wasted spark?
View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
john_p_b

posted on 9/4/06 at 03:27 PM Reply With Quote
it's a bestek electronic system.

the name of the type of distributor has completely gone from my head at the moment (need some sleep after last night) no points if that helps?!

before i just had coil and dizzy

now i've got coil, amp and dizzy.

it's a the gauge is from a vdo cockpit vision set 0 - 7000rpm





built a car, built a home, had a family. lost the family, lost the home, still got the car.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
auzziejim

posted on 9/4/06 at 03:49 PM Reply With Quote
i would check if the bestek system runs a wasted spark system i believe that would cause a 50% reading on a tacho
View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
Jon Ison

posted on 9/4/06 at 03:52 PM Reply With Quote
Wouldn't that make the tacho read higher though ?






View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
rusty nuts

posted on 9/4/06 at 04:30 PM Reply With Quote
Twice as many sparks . Do the VDO gauges need switches set to calibrate for type of ignition systems ? Sure my Greengauges have to
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
john_p_b

posted on 9/4/06 at 04:44 PM Reply With Quote
yeah the gauge has dip switches on it but they only vary between 4 - 6 - 8 cyl engines or for if it's running off a alternator (diesel engine)

the pick up for the tacho is still coming off the negative from the coil like it always has and there's no chance anything on the tacho has changed as i'd have to strip the dash back out to get at the switches on it.







built a car, built a home, had a family. lost the family, lost the home, still got the car.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
vintagebuilder

posted on 9/4/06 at 04:44 PM Reply With Quote
Hi,

Had exactly the same problem with my Greengauge tacho. It turned out that I had incorrectly set one of the switches to suit the correct Pinto ignition module.

Regards

David

View User's Profile E-Mail User View All Posts By User U2U Member
john_p_b

posted on 9/4/06 at 04:47 PM Reply With Quote
why can i see me ending up pulling the dash back out





built a car, built a home, had a family. lost the family, lost the home, still got the car.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
rusty nuts

posted on 9/4/06 at 06:24 PM Reply With Quote
Can you not reach behind and release tacho fixings to allow tacho to come out and get to switches
View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
john_p_b

posted on 9/4/06 at 07:12 PM Reply With Quote
paneled under the dash to make it look tidy.

if i take the battery tray/ scuttle out i'll get to it that way.

didnt take into account removing things when i fitted them. must be too used to working on renaults





built a car, built a home, had a family. lost the family, lost the home, still got the car.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Bob C

posted on 9/4/06 at 07:36 PM Reply With Quote
Hi John,
sounds weird to me. I had a (sort of) opposite problem when I went to electronic ign on my V8 - at low revs the tacho read high, but it "went right" at over 2500revs. I fixed this by splicing a low pass filter (RC) into the signal at the coil end. I guess the point I'm making is that it sounds as though it might have been reading wrong in the past, so was set wrong (2 wrongs making a right) & is now reading right, if you know what I mean.
However when the V8 was reading wrong the needle used to wander a bit... it was obviously not right!
Displaying too high revs was (for me) caused by the 'improved performance' (with the amp in) causing each spark to be noticed twice or more by the tacho - hence it thinking the revs were higher.
Another possibility is that the points system has goosed the tacho - but that doesn't sound very likely to me.
Best of luck!
Bob

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member
john_p_b

posted on 9/4/06 at 08:11 PM Reply With Quote
the tacho always used to wander around 200rpm either side of what it was actually running, sinse the ignition change although it's only reading half engine speed it is extremely stable!

i always used to put it down to a earthing problem.





built a car, built a home, had a family. lost the family, lost the home, still got the car.

View User's Profile View All Posts By User U2U Member
Bob C

posted on 9/4/06 at 10:00 PM Reply With Quote
Sounds like that might have been your problem then - now you just have to set the tacho up like it always should have been!!!!!
ATB
Bob

View User's Profile Visit User's Homepage View All Posts By User U2U Member

New Topic New Poll New Reply


go to top






Website design and SEO by Studio Montage

All content © 2001-16 LocostBuilders. Reproduction prohibited
Opinions expressed in public posts are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
the views of other users or any member of the LocostBuilders team.
Running XMB 1.8 Partagium [© 2002 XMB Group] on Apache under CentOS Linux
Founded, built and operated by ChrisW.