fuel & water temp gauges

[mbailey]

just bought an 87 cabby trying to iron out a few wrinkles thr gas gauge doesn't work I'm thinking this might be electrical because the water temp gauge beside it doesn't work either. any ideas suggestion or good places to start? I'm sincerely grateful for any help I get.

[Briano1234]

on the back side of the instrument cluster is the voltage "stabilizer" if it goes out it will stop providing bias to the gauges...... upper left hand looking from the rear on the corner of the speedo, it has one Phillips screw in it..

Find one in a wrecking yard on any mk1 cluster.

There is also a possibility that you need to tighten up the connector on the bottom of the cluster.

[mbailey]

ok so I cant find anything within 200 miles from me!! is there somewhere to buy this "voltage stabilizer" ? I really hate not being able to monitor temp & fuel!!

[Briano1234]

http://www.bizrate.com/automotiveparts/ ... 90667.html

But you may want to measure your first....
forward to back bias, on a ohmmeter

[mbailey]

the voltage stabiliser did the trick thanx
and for anyone interested you can get these from Mouser for .31 cents
stock # 512-LM7810CT you have to break the lil plastic tabs that hold them in place & rely on the screw as these are just a bit wider

[gull]

Just a side note, if you're curious... That part is one of a whole range of voltage regulator chips made by National Semiconductor, all with the part number LM78xx. The last two digits give the output voltage. The LM7805 and LM7812 variants are really common and easy to get (Radio Shack carries them) because 5 volts and 12 volts are common voltages in electronics, but the LM7810 is unfortunately mostly a mail order thing.