Inaccurate Volt Gauge!!
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Junior Member
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 74
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From: NJ
Car: 1986 & 87 Camaro
Engine: 350
Transmission: 700R4 & PG
Axle/Gears: 28spline 4.10 & KTRE 12 bolt
Inaccurate Volt Gauge!!
I have an 86 LG4 coupe with a volt gauge problem. Gauge reads 8-10 volts but when you check it at the battery its 13-14. Car charges perfect. I have changed the gauge & cluster. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Frank
Thanks Frank
Supreme Member
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 3,155
Likes: 2
From: Louisville, Ky
Car: 1991 Z28
Engine: 383
Transmission: T-5
Axle/Gears: 3.08 10 Bolt
If the battery reads correct with a reliable mulitmeter and you've changed the gauge I'd have to guess the gauge is only getting 8-10 volts. Faulty wiring perhaps?
Supreme Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,341
Likes: 10
From: Mooresville NC
Car: LOWERED ♦ CRIMSON METALFLAKE
Engine: ► 400 KUBES ◄
Transmission: 765R4
Axle/Gears: EATON POSI 4.56
WE JUST DON'T ENUFF POWER SIR
Get another gage and test it before installing.
Auto manufacturers connect the gage to the
nearest 12V source to save money but this
would not give you the error as large as you have.
However when the gage is wired to a close location
you get an error know as IR Drop.
Now to make a long story short the only
proper place to monitor battery voltage
is to run two wires (one pos one neg) from
the battery directly to the meter.
.
Happy Racing !
— If people drove any slower
they’d be going backwards —
.
Supreme Member
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 1,734
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From: Westminster, MD
Car: 89 IROC-Z
Engine: 355 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
The stock gages in these cars are just inaccurate. Add to that the voltage drop for the battery to the dash and as the wiring ages they get worse. You can take the gage out and test it accuracy if you'd like. But it's easier to just take you DMM and read the voltage at the dash, if it is really that low, you'll what to find out why. Probably bad connections, bad grounds.
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
volt gauge innaccurate
Hi,I had the same problem and it was a bad ground .Read around 8-10 volts and when I connected the ground ,it jumped back up to normal.The ground connection is under the steering column and connects to the dash.hope this helps.
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