Have an 83 H/O......just getting car roadworthy after sitting since 1988..

Wlile going 60mph,going to work the other day,,check engine light came on ,,stayed on for about 1-1/2 min,,and then went out....drove the same route home,,and it never came back on.

Threw a code of 45--Rich exhaust mixture.
checked and cleaned connector on the mixture control solenoid..

but to do the rest of the checks in the chassis serv manual,,i need to hook a dwell meter up.

Anyone have a recommendation of a good,,accurate,dwell/tach meter ?

What do you guys use ,,that would be good for my application ?

Thanks,
Erik

 

Not sure why they say to hook up a dwell meter? That is what is used to check the dwell on a point distributor. You have a HEI system, no adjustment. I can see using the tach part of the meter. But what did they say you were to check, with the dwell meter? ? Not real clear to me.

 

In the early computer systems the fuel is controlled by an electrical pulse. The "width" of the pulse determines how rich or lean the mixture is. A dwell meter can be used to determine the width of the pulse.
Dwell meters can still be obtained at auto supply stores, although they may have to special order them. E-Bay also probably has a good selection of new and used dwell meters.

 

Sears still sells them.

 

I have an old Sears one I have had for at least 30 years. I still have it in the original box that is pretty beat up. Still works like a champ. It is probably not the same one you would get today.

 

442Harv,,as someone mentioned above...it's used to measure the pulse of the mixture control solenoid on the carb..that gets is signal from the ecm and is changing constantly ,8-10 times per second,depending on what ecm sees to determine if the mixture needs to be richer or leaner..There is a special connector that you clip a dwell meter to right in front of the carb.

I did pick me up a nos snap on dwell/tach meter..Works great,,,but still getting a rich mixture code when driving 45-60 mph...