I'd been trying to think about what could possibly be causing my gauge to bounce when the car turns off, and it occurred to me that aside from manhandling the gauge, electronics had been added to the car's electrical system, namely the El-Glo panels and their inverter. It's a pretty cheap inverter, so I considered the possibility that it was spitting something back into the electrical system when it powers down. To test the theory, I tried several times pulling the fuse for the circuit it's on before stopping the engine, and every time, the needle stayed right where it was when the engine shut off. Put the fuse back in and stop the engine, and the needle jumps up to 1:00. Very interesting. This sounds like a job for a diode. I stuck a diode on the positive DC side of the inverter, and sure enough, every time I stop the car now, the needle doesn't move one bit. Apparently that cheap inverter was just spitting something back down its positive side that was causing the needle to jump, and a diode successfully blocks whatever it is. So I thought my problem was fixed. I drove to school today and stopped the car. The needle sat exactly on the normal temperature line. But when I came back to the car after class, I found the needle had migrated up to around 11:55. I was worried, but when I started the car, it popped down to cold like it should, so again I thought the problem was fixed, albeit with more trepidation this time. I stopped for lunch on my way home, and again the needle sat right where it was when the car turned off. But after lunch, I found that the needle had again migrated up to 11:55. This time, however, when I started the car, it went around the wrong way and got stuck at 5:55 again. Damn. A binnacle thwack fixed it, but it's obviously not going to cooperate all the time. So now I'm faced with a couple of thoughts... Something in the electrical system is making it pop up when the car is off? This seems unlikely. Whatever that inverter has been hitting it with has damaged it in some way that makes it do this over time when it's off? Possible. Maybe the UV paint I put on the needle has changed the weight just enough to make it slowly migrate up? Possible. The UV paint is water washable, so when I next have the cluster out, I'll go ahead and wash the paint off that needle. Since the UV lighting idea didn't work out, I have no need for the paint anyway. The saga continues... Oh, while I was digging around for the inverter to add the diode, I found a nine pin square plug back in the console. Eight of the nine wires coming off it have been cut, and the one that's left seems to be ground. Is this the factory radio wiring harness? My car had been converted to a standard DIN radio setup before I bought it. -andrew Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT <http://rd.yahoo.com/M=267637.4116732.5333197.1261774/D=egroupweb/S=170512 6215:HM/A=1754451/R=0/SIG=11t8a5ls2/*http://www.netflix.com/Default?mqso=6 0178323&partid=4116732> click here <http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=267637.4116732.5333197.1261774/D=egroupm ail/S=:HM/A=1754451/rand=477091465> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: DMCForum-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
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