Tachometer Testing

[Europa73]

Hi all,

Unfortunately my tachometer did not work when I bought the car.

 Does anyone know of of an easy way to test the tacho?

Many thanks,

[BDA]

Sorry, I don't know a way to test a tach. If nobody comes up with a way to test it, my suggestion is to send it to gaugeguys.com or nisonger.com. Before I put my car together, I sent all my gauges to Nisonger. They should have been ok since they were fine when I took them out, but I didn't want to find out something was busted after I had put the car together. It wasn't cheap but I don't know if Nisonger is just expensive or if it wasn't going to be expensive anywhere. That's I also mentioned gaugeguys.com. I've had a good experience with them when I got my electronic speedo from them. I'm sure either one can check it out and/or repair your tach.

[jbcollier]

There is/was a chap in Canada doing British gauge repair.  Check with your local British car repair shop.

[Europa73]

Thanks both.

[RoddyMac]

There's a guy in White Rock here on the wet coast that does gauge repair.  Oliver Bienz does gauge repair etc, see here: http://www.oecc.ca/sib/images/Oliver_Bienz_Auto_Instrument_Gauges_Repair.pdf. 

The shop I used to work at used him for repair work, but for restoration we sent gauges to either Nisonger or Mo-Ma (in New Mexico).  Mo-Ma does Pebble Beach type work. 

[Europa73]

Many thanks

[jbcollier]

Yup, that's the chap I was thin king of.  I worked at Sports Car Centre for 15 years.

[blasterdad]

I would take it out, check the wiring diagram for your car, hook up a +&- to it then direct wire it to the coil.
If it works you know the problem is in your harness somewhere...
Unhook it before you try to shut the car off because it might "hotwire" the coil & not turn off if you don't.
That is just to test it, DON'T leave it hooked up that way.

[RoddyMac]

Adding to what blasterdad stated, the Europa uses an RVI type smiths gauge.  There is a green (+12V) lead going to it from the fuse box, a ground, and either a white wire into and out of the tach or a white wire that does a loop that should be insulated and clamped to the tach with what sort of looks like a staple (I cant recall what the Europa had for wiring, but it's definitely an RVI tach).  In order to test the tach at the distributor, you would have to join the two white wires that are at the tach (under the dash) so that you still have current going to the coil.  There's a simplified diagram found here (RVI Section):

https://www.spiyda.com/magento/index.php/tacho-wiring

If I were in your position, I would first make sure there is power going to the tach (green wire).  See if you have continuity from the fuse box to the tach power, and that the gauge is grounded.  If the car runs, then you know for certain that it's not a break in the white circuit.   

[blasterdad]

 
Great advice, simple tests first, power, ground, continuity, does it light up? (dash light).
Kinda got ahead of myself. 

[Europa73]

Many thanks for the info.

The light does come on (dash light)

[Europa73]

HI all,

just a quick update on this one.

I did look into the price of replacement and getting it fixed.

either option was not cheep.

BUT - I did find the below.

A RVI to RVC conversion.

So simple to do and only needed the soldering of 2 wires - and a much cheeper option.

https://www.spiyda.com/magento/index.php/smiths-rvi-rvc-conversion-board.html

I had a few questions and the service was great.

After installation - works great

[Roger]

Another vote for the Spiyda conversion. Neat and easy.