924Board.org

[kylekev]

So I've always had few problems that needed to be addressed and now I need some help. I am dealing with the dash and its electrical on a 78 924 NA. I've done a lot of work and got all the outside lights to work and some interior lights to work and these questions are the few things that continue to not work or don't work most of the time.

On dash (what doesn't work)

1)My speedo stick is bouncy when driving up to 30mph and then after 30mph the stick is straight (rpm stick is fine the whole time). What is wrong with it? I rebuilt the motor and I am pretty sure there is no air leaking on the motor.

2)How do you get the speedo, rpm, and gas gauges out of dash?

3)Does my 78 924 NA have a EGR light, a low gas light, and or a battery light?

4) My temp gauge only reads hot (gas gauge is fine).

5)With my gauges, most of the lights to light them don't work (due to grounding problems possibly or burnt out light bulbs). Could i possibly change them out to a brighter light? Or should i stick with these?

6)I hear A "buzzing" noise come from the dash when I try to turn on my brights to my headlights on (which use to work and now doesn't work).

7) One day my radio just stopped working... My radio doesn't turn on. It has power but the power to turn it "on" and "off" seems to not work. Is there a fuse?

My dome light worked before but doesn't now. Is there a fuse?

9)My headlights light bulbs turn on but don't flip up some times. I usually run my finger against one of the fuses and they flip up.

Thanks all for looking and please give input:)

[McGyver]

1) Probably you have to change speedometer cable to the front left wheel If it has broken "wires" it will stall a little and make jumps showing your speed Not an electrical issue but strict mechanical.
2) Just remove two screws on top of gauges frame and then you should be able to push it forward and probably only speedometer cable has to be pushed from behind to get gauges out. The wiring out there is long enough to get gauges out for about 10cm (~3inch) clearance in back. Sometimes only wires with light bulbs likes to pop out from gauges in that way.
3) Should have battery light and low fuel control light (booth in one kombi gauge).
4) There could be problems in wiring or temp sensor in rear of engine if I remember good.
5) You can use modern "LEDs" with same mounting like original bulbs (you should find some on ebay for example). Or you can use standard bulbs (for people like original look)... they don't work that bad
6) Take out your light swich... that buzzing noise could be some problems with electric connections and is on good way to start a fire! Check that first! Second thing... check first 4 fuses (and rotate them and check lights) sometimes they don't connect even if fuse is OK
7) Take radio out and check if it got power on radio connector, check fuse nr. 7 from 15 and check is there any fuse on radio power cable... in most cases radio got some another fuses just on wires near it.
I think should be one fuse for it not sure which one...
9) clean connectors and replace fuses with ceramic ones (they work much better than modern plastic ones which can don't connect even when they are good).
_________________
931 82' - 5000km after full engine rebuild

SOLD: 924 81' N/A- with turbo gearbox "dogleg" - great but mysterious car
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[kylekev]

From the questions before....

1) Got speedometer cable off. One question tho. How do I know if its bad? I looked online and it seems you can pull that metal rod in the cable out and clean it up and oil it. Should I bother doing that?

2)Gauges are off and rewired. Ground cable burned from temp gauge and from RPM gauge.

3) Got the wires all sorted out from wire diagram in my haynes book. It seems my gas light, EGR, and battery light aren't working. Even with fixtures that i know do work. I test the lights by turning the cars ignition on and seeing what lights turn on. Any ideas How to fix em? Low gas light im thinking it has to do with fuel pump relay possibly.
Question with the EGR... I took the EMS system off and I was thinking maybe the light would just stay off or on the whole time. Just a thought

4) Ground cable was fried and I changed it and well the temp still reads hot. Think maybe my temp sensor could be burned up. But just a shoot in the dark.

6) It hasn't buzzed since I put new grounds cable in so i'm thinking that was the problem.

7) Haven't touch the radio haha.

NEW question: I've gotten her started before and well she doesn't want to start for me anymore after i drove it around the block and then changed the oil because I was thinking it had a lot of fuel accumulated in it. I thought it was the dizzy. After cleaning it I put it back on and the car and tried to start it but it seemed like it wasn't even trying to start up. no putter no nothing.

-I'm pretty sure their aren't any air leaks in the vacuum
-Got spark at cap. (pretty sure i got spark at plugs but i haven't tested them honestly)
-Got fuel going in. (Need to look how injectors are spraying)
-Checked cold start and I had no fuel when trying to start the car cold. (Question - Is the cold start used when temps are in the 90's and well the garage is a pretty hot place at noon. (aka where it is)

And the story continues...

Thanks again!

[larchie]

It's hard to make suggestions with so many things going wrong, but I think three things stand out. McGyver's advice above is spot on, and what follows is the extension of some of his points.

(1) If the temperature gauge reads hot when the engine isn't hot, this normally means extra resistance in the connections at either end. Make sure connections are bright. I couldn't tell if you replaced the ground wire connected near the ignition coil (transformer) at the back of the engine near the distributor or replaced the battery cable ground. If only the latter, then check the ground near the ignition coil to see if the wire and ground connection is bright and shiny. Also check the 16 A fuse 3 on the additional fuse board.

(2) With all of your other electrical problems which include open circuits and possible shorts, you might have blown the fuel pump relay and that's why the car didn't seem like it was trying to start. Also check 25A fuse 2 on additional fuse board. So you might have someone listen for the noise of the in-line fuel pump when you try to start the car again to see if it's working.

(3) To test for a short with everything connected, turn off everything electrical, disconnect and clean the end of your battery ground strap and then hold the cable close to the ground post. If you see a spark, you have a short somewhere.

If you pull the radio, you can see an in-line fuse in the wiring behind it. There's not much point in replacing blown fuses unless you can find the shorts which tend to produce them.

For lights that are dim, those circuits most likely have poor connections or poor grounds. For lights that do not work, the circuits are either open, most likely from corrosion at grounds, blown fuses, or burned out bulbs. I would suggest before a systematic testing of circuits in accordance with the electrical diagrams for your car, to clean and or replace all of the grounds on the vehicle. I think the following list includes all of the important wiring grounds on the 79 924:

* near the ignition coil (as mentioned above)
* near each of the headlights
* near left rear light.
(and of course the negative battery terminal)

On my 79 some of these grounds were copper spade terminals screwed to zinc connectors -- which invite corrosion. Once the grounds are done then test continuity across the various circuits going through the fuse board in accordance with the wiring diagrams.

For no dome light check 8A fuse 6
For no low fuel warning light check for infinite resistance across the fuel sender unit in the luggage compartment.

Hopefully this is a start.

[kylekev]

1) temp gauge all figured out. haha just had it plugged in wrong and it was just grounded to the motor. temp works great again:)

2) For fuel pump, I had the car jacked up in the front and with less then a 1/4 of a tank, the fuel pump wasn't reaching the fuel. So i thought maybe if i put more fuel in that would fix it. Me and my dad laughed so hard when it started up after putting 5 gallons in.

3) When i put the battery on it does seem to jump alittle (not near as much when i had a short between the altenator and starter tho). When I connect the battery I hear something in the car go off and usually the radio beeps twice that might cause this.

4) Spent alot of time cleaning up every connection and grounds in the car and lots are working now. Lots of lights were burned out and or missing the light fixture completely. Once I get light bulbs and new light fixtures I will visit this again or maybe today.

5) My horn doesn't work unfortunately. Could it be that relay? I cleaned up the connections on the steering wheel but no go. It use to work, once in a while a couple years ago.

Man it is so nice to almost be done with this baby. What an education:) When I look back I realize how many people don't know any of this and how much I've gained from it. I was looking at this guys 928 and I was able to help him make his car run much better by just cleaning up his WUR.


Thanks all, huge help and i'm grateful