Various little tweaks and problems

[TXblue240Z]

I dunno which forum to post this in, since it is kinda scattered, but since I am gonna start with electrical, I guess I'll post it here.

I finally got to driv emy Z around for any decent amount of time, streets freeways etc...

MY choke light keeps coming on as if my choke was engaged, but it's pushed down, like when i hit a bump, but it stays on...my guess is that something is contacting in ther or the choke cable needs to be adjusted...any thoughts?

My guages are screwy... My tach is completely dead (possible b/c of electronic ignition installation?)

My speedometer appears to read correctly, except it bounces around with every bump...is this an electrical problem with the guage or a cable problem?

My ammeter reads just past the middle on the positive side most of the time, the alternator appears to be fairly new, is this problem, it is only slightly past the middle mark, and goes to the middle when driving at night with lights on...

Finally, what is proper oil pressure when not idling ...when idling I read right in th emiddle, when driving it stays fairly constant, topping out at 50-60...

any help with these, and what will probably be a laundry list of other help i need wil be greatly appriciated.

[Bambikiller240]

It could be that your choke cables need a bit of adjustment. My car had the same problem after I replaced the carbs. Turned out that an adjustment of the cables resolved the problem.

Tell us about your electronic ignition installation. Which system did you go with? I'm sure someone can help to confirm a correct installation.

Regarding speedo, I don't know the cause, but "bouncing" is a fairly commn problem.

Sounds to me like your ammeter is behaving normally. Normally the needle wouldn't read much past the middle unless the battery charge is low. At night, mine reads right at the middle like yours.

The oil gauges in Z cars are notoriously "variable" (inaccurate) shall we say. At idle the reading can be incredibly low, but from your description I'd say yours is reading about normal.

[Inf]

1) The circuit for the choke light is pretty simple IIRC, it has a switch on the console choke linkage, and turns on the light in the ashtray cover (i'm not sure what year car you have since you didn't specify it). I would go over that circuit if I were you. That said, my choke light hasn't worked since I bought the car since the switch isn't even hooked up. It's something that didn't really bother me but now that you mention it, I think i'll try to fix it.

2) It would depend on the electronic ignition and how it was wired up. There are some diagrams showing how this is done. Tachometers tend to be pretty flakey from my limited experience. My original 240z inductive loop tach didn't want to work properly with the pertronix unit I installed(it bounced around when RPMs went above 3000 or so), and the 280z tach I bought to gut and put in its place didn't either for some reason(it did almost the same thing as the inductive loop tach, weird). I think that particular petronix unit was faulty somehow at this point since it was wired up 'properly' in each configuration I tried. Luckily the local Z guru had an extra original 240z tach and he slapped some points back on there for me.

3) I believe the speedometer bouncing is due to the cable binding up in the sleeve as it rotates. There are some threads talking about how to help alleviate this by letting some lubricant work its way down in. (i.e. by having a straw taped on one end kept vertical with a column of some sort of oil in it and leaving it overnight)

4) I'm no expert on the circuitry or anything, but my ammeter seems to behave similarly and I have a new voltage regulator and my alternator seems to be working fine.

5) I'm not sure if my gauge is incorrect or what(and I understand its fairly common that the pressure sensor is out of whack), but I generally have the pressure needle farther up on the gauge, usually around 70-75psi or so while cruising at highway speeds. When I idle it drops down closer to the bottom, maybe around 15-25psi. This seems to be a little high given the trend on the other gauges of vertical being the 'normal' operating status.

[Curtis240Z]

1. Choke light - You need to adjust the choke cable so the choke lever stays completely down when the choke is off.

2. Tach - Yes, the electronic ignition is causing your tach problems because most tach inputs are current triggered, but the 240Z is voltage triggered. You need to source a tach adaptor from the company you bought the electronic ignition from.

3. Speedo - the cable is worn out or kinked. The cable is basically a tightly wound spring. When is starts to wear or kinked the cable unwinds and winds back up instead of staying constantly wound, thus the bouncing.

4. Ammeter - your description sounds normal. It will only read positive if the battery needs charging (i.e. lights ON, etc.).

5. Oil pressure - Bambikiller is correct. The oil sender is notorious for being incorrect.

[TXblue240Z]

Thanks for all of the quick replys.

The electronic ignition was installed when I got the car, It's a Crane system, not sure of the model, or what exactly they did...

I spent all day working on the car today, oil change, air filter change, radiator flush, replaced the thermostat...and found out that the corrosion around my thermostat was due to a leaky housing, the top had a piece missing in one of the bolt holes, and the lower section's other bolt hole was stripped out pretty bad and corroded...so I won't be driving until the replacements come....