bad dash gauges

well ive been also working on the rallye gauges in the roadrunner. bad news. im sure every gauge is burn out. took my meter placed on the limiter 11 volts on one side. test the other side 11v still. uh oh, not good. go to gauge 11v there at the gauge . wtf. unhook battery switch meter to ohms and put on terminals of gauge all i get is OL. outta limits. what the ><>< could have caused this. limiter shorted instead of going open

If the limiter didn't limit the voltage (and it sounds like that's the case) then your gauges are probably burned out and need to be replaced

All the original limiters did was apply 12V and no voltage at about a 50% duty cycle. Current goes through bimetallic strip (limiter is normally shorted, which is why your gauges will peg to the right when you first turn the key), strip heats up, strip bends and breaks contact. No current, strip cools down, makes contact and applies 12V to gauges. The cycle continues. After many years, contacts will stick and your gauges get toasted. Usually, they will intermittently stick and your gauges will peg to the right for a few seconds, giving you a heads up that something is amiss. There are a few fixes for that. There is the simple Radio Shack mod, there is a company out there that makes solid state plug ins that cost more than the RS parts but no labor on your part, more complicated, but probably better, and Year One sells the circuit board w/ the RS mod. As for the gauges, you're gonna hafta either send them in for repair, or replace them. The problem with the solid state limiters is that if your car has a low battery (not dead yet, but less than 7V), and you turn the key, the limiter is toast.

well ive been repairing my gauges myself. amp gauge is fine. temp oil fuel all burnt out. i fixed the temp gauge by taking the cover off and the wire that comes off the studs and wraps around the bimetallic strip was burn in half on both ends where it comes off the studs. pieced the wire together and soldered it back on the studs. works now when i take 3 1.5 volt batteries and hook up to it. how would i test my tach. there are two terminals coming off of it. i had it hooked to hot and the other terminal to the neg side of coil. i had 12 v to it too.

http://www.yearone.com/serverfiles/fbshopmain2.asp?cat=1 why does it say except 71-74 with ralleye gauges. aint this the one i need for a 73 rr with ralleye gauges

why pay year one 155 dollars per gauge when the only thing i found on the gauges were the wire was burnt in half
got the oil fuel temp and alt working
just need to get the tach working. how could i test the tach

I can't help you on the tach. I don't repair gauges, never have needed to. I have a '69 Bee, so I'm not familiar with the 71 and up circuit boards. The OE limiters are all the same. Those I have been intimate with. Since the impedance of the gauges may have been changed, in my opinion they would need to be checked full range for accuracy, and perhaps even calibrated.

Year One's not the only supplier out there. If you can't fix your tach try autoinstruments or redline gauge works.

hmm. well i am making good progress. the tachometer uses a 12 v supply dont it. instead of a 5. also i would just want to replace the voltage limiter with the same thing. but i cant find one like mine. mine has 3 terminals and it had like a capacitor on one of the terminals.

if im not mistaken tach needs to be tested on a running engine the neg of the coil will send the signal to the tach but if the engine is not running the coil sends no signal