71OldsCut

Hi, can any one identify a wire that would be suitable to connect gauge lights to? The pictures are the wires coming out of the back of the CD player.

I have tried to find this grey wire that would be for the clock (car doesn't have a clock) and tried to find the grey wire connected to the light control but haven't had any luck. I figure there must be one for the CD player that would be easy to get to.

Thanks!

joe_padavano

Tapping into the wiring at the CD player is kind of half-fast, and frankly since that player is aftermarket, you don't know how it was wired up.


Remove the woodgrain plate around the gauges. You'll see the screws that let you remove the clock blank. The grey feed wire will be behind there.

71OldsCut

Hi, so here is what I have. Stupid question at this point I know, but I am color blind and just want to be sure. These are the wires that would have connected to the clock, correct? So I can just attach the wire for the gauge lights to the grey wire here?

Thanks!

oldcutlass

The gray wire is laying on the dash panel pointing to the passenger side.

71OldsCut

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help. Hopefully if nothing else I have provided some good laughs with my dumb questions, lol.

So I think I have all I need to finish this up now. Wire for lights to this grey wire, wire for volt meter to IGN on fuse box, and both grounds to a solid ground location under dash, in my case I think I found a good one near the steering column.

The mechanical connections are much easier for me so the oil pressure and water temp connections should not be an issue.

joe_padavano

You know, color blind or not, all you have to do is connect a test light to each of the terminals. The orange one will be powered all the time (light on all the time). The grey one will be powered only when the lights are on.



"Teach a man to fish..." or something like that.

71OldsCut

Yeah, I just figured asking would get the job done too.

Next, and last pain in the butt part is to make the 3/4"/20mm hole to get the temps sensor piece through and install the grommet. Should be easy after that.

joe_padavano

Sorry, while I am happy to help people who want to learn, if someone just wants to be spoon fed and can't be bothered to learn the background to allow you to figure it out yourself the next time, well, have fun. I guess this is the whole dumbing of America thing. Use turn-by-turn nav instead of learning how to read a map, etc, etc.


OK, rant off.

71OldsCut

Well, it appears that I have inadvertently pushed some angry buttons here. I will elaborate with the back story that I didn't feel was relevant and didn't want to ramble on boring people with - I have just recently moved and most of my stuff, including the tools are still in boxes. So yes, using the proper tool I could have checked and confirmed what wire was the correct one, but given my current situation asking the question here was easier. I do apologize for taking the easy way out and participating in the dumbing down of America.

m371961

It's all cool. Some of us lose patience sometimes dealing with the same questions, owners that buy old cars and not factory manuals, or don't take time to read them. Or those that just throw parts at problems then ask questions.

Thats my rant, and maybe I shouldn't even comment after a few cocktails.
Carry on.

Fun71

On both my 70 Supreme and the 71 convertible I used an existing hole near the steering shaft to fish the mechanical temp sensor and oil pressure line through the firewall.

OLDSter Ralph

There are a lot of seasoned, informed and confident people on this site. There are also more new people coming on this site who have a car that is more than they expected. There are also "horror stories" of someone building an engine for them or a "rebuilt engine" with problems. These new people can lack some basic skills.

While I am relatively new on this site, I have gained a tremendous amount of information from just reading threads and printing them out. While it seems like the same questions are asked over and over, To each newbie, its a "new" problem to them. I am seeing more people posting links to answer questions, this is good.


This is not meant as a rant. This is meant as a compliment to the moderators and those members of this site who help people each and every day. Thank you.

71OldsCut

I agree, but I usually do a search and if the question still remains I ask it. Perhaps I am not doing a thorough enough search. I will try better next time. It was not my intention to upset anyone and I again apologize for that.

Now on to another issue. I started the car, and checked everything over. No leaks, gauges working, well except the temp gauge, can was only running a minute and didn't register yet, oil pressure if I recall correctly was about 60PSI. However, near the end of that minute or two it was running, a noise appeared that sounded similar to a pulley bearing starting to go (water pump possibly?) and then I started to see smoke. I don't see anyway this could be related to the gauges, and the smoke was coming right from where some coolant spilled out where the sensor was installed. Normally I would have just assumed it was the coolant burning off and that could very well be what it is, I just didn't think the car got hot enough to do that in a couple of minutes. The noise could also have been there before and I just never noticed but being over paranoid about the initial start after the gauges were installed I panicked.

The fittings for the sensor were actually quite hot after I shut it off so maybe it was just burning off the coolant? I don't know, what do you guys think?

Thanks!

cjsdad

Was there any fresh coolant around the sensor? I had that issue with mine when I first purchased it. Rinse the area around the sensor so there is only fresh water to steam off. If you have antifreeze around it after that, you have a leak. If not, it was just burning off the residue from the install.

71OldsCut

I dried it all off as best I could and even had some paper towels around the oil sensor, temp sensor and most importantly in the car at the oil connection just in case it started spraying from somewhere. All were removed within the first 30 seconds or so it was just because I couldn't check all three at once and wanted to prevent soaking anything. All were good and dry so I think in terms of leaks I am good and the smoke was just burning off the excess that I couldn't wipe off. I think it was just the noise combined with smoke that freaked me out and I shut it off before having a good look to try and figure out what the noise was.

71OldsCut

Well, I will call that a win. Car seems fine now, I think it was just me being paranoid. I also have never had my head right beside the engine after a cold start while in high idle so I am sure it was just that it sounded different than what I am used to.

One thing I noticed on the volt meter - when just started in high idle, it was at about 15, then after warm and settled down it was still just shy of 14, is that normal?

And now for the part that doesn't work.... the main reason for buying these, the water temp gauge. It ran for about 10 minutes while I was looking everything over, then a drive to the gas station and back and it never read anything, just dead needle on 130F Rad hose is nice and hot as is everything else. Any tips on what others may have experienced or do I have a faulty gauge? Before it was even out of the box I read about the "wire" that goes from the coolant sensor to the gauge and to be careful not to do any extreme bends or make and cuts or damage of any kind and was very careful with it so I don't think it is anything I did. The sensor is installed straight with no leaks. I don't know what else it could be.

Thanks

oldcutlass

If its purely mechanical (metal line to the gauge), then your gauge and/or line are bad.

If you have an electric temp gauge (wire to the gauge). My first guess is you put Teflon tape on the sensor and you don't have a good connection. Second guess improperly wired. Third guess is a bad sensor or gauge.

You can isolate the problem by grounding the temp sensor wire with the key on, if the gauge goes all the way to hot then the problem is at the sensor, either you used Teflon tape, or a bad sensor. If the gauge does not move check your wiring.

m371961

If it is mechanical, the bulb sensor has to be submerged in the coolant flow. If you used a tee to keep the idiot light working you might try loosening the sensor to bleed out any air pocket that may be there.