When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hey guys, I have a 79 which has an odd face on the tachometer. Wonder if anybody else has the same tachometer in their 79? This car is low mileage and super original. Hard to believe that it got the tachometer replaced with something different than original.
It would be better if your image was focused on the tachometer rather than the speedometer - the image represents about 1/2 of the tachometer.
Here is an image of what appears the same tachometer in a 1984 H/O. I don't know if the tachometer in this 1984 is an original tachometer but appears same as your image.
I suspect the originally equipped OEM tachometer was/became defective at some point in time and a later model 1980s H/O tachometer replaced the original?
Jori, you have a newer tach, someone swapped out the old one for the one you have in there now. These 1978-1980 tachs are problematic, they have all sorts of issues of what can malfunction. Even NOS out of the box I've had some that do not work properly. I believe in 1981 they started with the face you have in your car, the one pictured just above by Vintage Chief was used from 1978 to 1980. Note the redline starting at 4400 rpm. That's fine for the H/O's 350 R motor, but I swear for the Olds 260 of that year they should have started that red line at 3300 maybe even lower.................
Last edited by BlueCalais79; Sep 16, 2021 at 05:12 AM.
The biggest problem for those tachs were the V6/V8 jumper plug that clips into the back of the tach based on whether it was a V6 or V8 car. The clips were always messing up and not making good contact. They didn't figure that out until later in the game, I believe 1987, when they replaced the clip with a soldered jumper to whichever engine was in the car. Which was the fix most people were doing to their tachs to begin with.
That is exactly correct, this was the biggest bugaboo with these tachs. And man, that orange clip, all you have to do is look at it wrong and it breaks! Old, brittle plastic with a paper thin tension clip that always loses its tension.
Good news though, someone on e bay is selling a circuit board that's modernized and eliminates that clip. Bout time! I'll get back with the auction number so you can see it. I bought one but I have yet to install it to see how it does. The tachs in my 79 H/O and my 79 blue Calais are currently working properly, FOR NOW. Once one of them fails, and they will fail, I will be ready.
Of course it would have helped if they had advertised it with the right year tach, but they didn't. I see no reason why this shouldn't work correctly, based on the 3 holes cut out just inside the circle:
Of course it would have helped if they had advertised it with the right year tach, but they didn't. I see no reason why this shouldn't work correctly, based on the 3 holes cut out just inside the circle:
How are those circuit boards pre-calibrated? To V6 or V8? Or is there something they've got figured out to automatically switch? That would be the only question I would have to the seller to ensure the thing actually would work for your application. Not everyone has a V8.
