Is the Fun-O-Meter (boost gauge) flakey?

[Hegg]

I've been wondering if my fun gauge (ok, ok, the boost gauge) is twitching out, or if I have an issue. Before I get into it, let's just say the car runs great!

Alright, so I look over at my boost gauge when I'm not boosting and it seems to frequently sit in different places when it's "off". Sometimes it's flat horizontal and slightly below the lowest tick, and other times it's as high as a full needle width over the lowest tick (still with no boost).

Well, I'm assuming I'm on no boost because it'll be when I'm idling or at low RPMs. If I punch it when it's in the floating-above-zero mode, the needle rises just like it should as the boost kicks in, then if I drop the throttle, it immediately falls back to where it was. As a side note though, it's a little bouncy when it falls all the way down, meaning that it falls below it's "zero" mark (wherever it might be at the moment), then back up, then down, etc., until it stops. All very very fast of course, but it is noticeable and I point it out just because I did that test to see if maybe the needle was stuck above the true-zero position (which it obviously isn't).

The other thing is that I have noticed on 2 or 3 instances that the needle did fall from wherever it was back down to true zero, just at random.

I wouldn't really care about all this, but I am curious if the car has a "boost leak", so to speak. When the needle is stuck above the true zero mark (even at idle), is it possible that I'm somehow stuck on very low boost (and therefore wasting fuel and such).

My idle speed seems unaffected and is solid on 950 or so.

[RayD]

Could the needle be loose on the spindle I wonder...
Ray

[Dave Eds]

Or not earthing properly near the "orange" thing on the bulkhead in the engine bay? that's what caused mine to go all over the guage

[Sy V]

Dave is spot on, it'll be a bad transducer earth. Disconnect, clean and reconnect.

[dapinky]

Disconnect, clean and reconnect.

Sometimes easier said than done if (like mine) the screww just rotates and doesn't come out.
I ended up cutting the wire and putting a crimped loop on it, then drilling a 3mm hole in the bracket and attaching it with a self-tapper.

Remember, it doesn't go to chassis earth, so don't make the mistake of connecting the wire to any other earth point, or you'll just get a full boost reading all the time the ignition is on!

[Hegg]

Thanks for the replies. I have had the issue with the connector being a little loose and the needle flying all over the gauge at random. This is a different issue in that the needle is rock solid - it's just not all the way at the zero position. However, still good suggestions and I will definitely go do some cleaning / tightning / checking.

And as a side note, my reply was a little late because we just had our first son on Thursday! Everyone seems to be doing just great, although very tired. Welcome to the newest Elan enthusiast, even if he doesn't know it yet!

[Dave Eds]

Congrats to you and Mrs Hegg.

[Hegg]

Thank you. This is more exciting than a new Lotus, and probably just as time consuming!

[dermotbell]

He'll probably give you almost as many sleepless nights!!

[Hegg]

He already is.....

zz... zzz

he ....already..... ... .. is.....

[seamus]

Hi there,
I too have the problem where the turbo gauge in the car is on 0 when the car is off and if the key is in and turned the needle is on full and stis there.
I have taken both the black and gree/yellow wire and cleaned them adn atttached just the end to the orange thing (the transponder?).
Is there any thing else I should do because it made no difference.
Thanks for any help