Boost gauge problem ..

[Rush]

Well, friggin' yay for me! I finally got my gauges and pod installed .. a month later, LOL.

Anyway, the install went pretty smoothly. Except for one thing. I'm having a problem with my boost/vac gauge. It's an Autometer C2 boost/vac .. and it's reading the boost correctly, but not reading vacuum AT ALL. And everything is hooked up right. I tapped in at the intake manifold, the 'sending input' thing .. or whatever you want to call it .. is facing down. I KNOW that there's a vacuum and no leak because I felt the suction when I took off the piping to check. And it's not a calibration issue because I've already turned the car on and off more than once.

Any ideas on what it could be, or do I just have a faulty sensor?

[Dr.Sound]

wow,
if u know for sure it's not a vacuum leak then i'm puzzled....
all i can think of is that it'sa faulty guage.

[Rush]

And just when I thought it was bad enough ..

I think the boost/vac gauge must be totally fucked up. I just got back from takin' a drive -- to see if maybe things had magically straightened themselves out, haha, what a joke -- and the thing's just NOT right.

First off, it doesn't stay illuminated. Hit a little bump in the road? Flicker flicker. And for some odd reason, it goes completely dark whenever I'm turning. Not to mention the fact that it doesn't read PERIOD. It just clunks down to the little prong that sits below the lowest vacuum reading. Every once in awhile -- usually when I'm sittin' in neutral, idling at a red light -- it spontaneously works. But as soon as I move and hit a little bump, flicker flicker, gauge stops working.

I was fucking embarrassed to be driving with the gauge doing that.

So, all that considered .. it's pretty much safe to say that the gauge is shot, right? So what's the next step? How do I get in touch with Autometer to get the damn thing fixed?

I can't believe I spent all day installing these damn things, and the one fucking gauge I actually care about is busted. WTF.

(rant)

[girth]

Are you sure it's just not a kink somewhere as you snaked it into the cabin? If you tapped a good source and it's not leaking there, then it's gotta be a kink or a faulty gauge.

[jersey_emt]

Could also be a bad ground.

[Rush]

I'll go back and check the wiring tomorrow .. but I'm 99.9% sure that's not it. I was psychotically meticulous with this stuff today. As in, the installation took me from 8am till 3pm with an hour break for some food and air conditioning.

Another thing that makes it odd is that the air/fuel gauge works just fine. I mean, you've got the bouncy reading from it, but from what I've read that's 'normal'.

Plus, the boost/vac gauge seems to read the boost alright when the lights are OFF -- at least, it did this afternoon, save for not reading vacuum. But when you turn the lights on, it all just goes to shit. I'm completely baffled.

(crazy)

[Wiggles422]

What did you splice into for the lighting of the gauges? Is it an electronic gauge or umm i forget the name of the other type analog, manual or something? I dunno I'm going to bed now.

[Rush]

What did you splice into for the lighting of the gauges? Is it an electronic gauge or umm i forget the name of the other type analog, manual or something? I dunno I'm going to bed now.
LOL .. No, it's not a mechanical gauge, it's an electric.

And I spliced into the lighting behind the dimmer switch, down low on the dash to the left of the steering column -- the green and black wire back there.

[Wiggles422]

LOL .. No, it's not a mechanical gauge, it's an electric.

And I spliced into the lighting behind the dimmer switch, down low on the dash to the left of the steering column -- the green and black wire back there.
Ahhh, yes mechanical was deffinately the word I was looking for. Anyways it seems like you wired it all up right. I would email autometer. My mechanical guage is a little off, whenever I turn off the car it stays around 1psi, but some people say thats normal.

[jersey_emt]

LOL .. No, it's not a mechanical gauge, it's an electric.

And I spliced into the lighting behind the dimmer switch, down low on the dash to the left of the steering column -- the green and black wire back there.

Where did you ground it? My gauge is grounded on the bolt behind the cover to the left of the steering column.

[Rush]

Where did you ground it? My gauge is grounded on the bolt behind the cover to the left of the steering column.
I grounded both gauges to where the actual car battery is grounded .. Out in the engine bay, on the metal behind the fuse box.

I'm thinking that if it was a problem with grounding .. wouldn't BOTH gauges be acting stupid, since they're both ground to the exact same location?

[Dr.Sound]

return the gauge and forget the headache.

[wicked]

don't feel bad ,mine reads 10 psi vac when the car is off,and 0 psi boost when i'm at 7psi boost.it's an autometer auto-lite.