It has been 17 degrees Fahrenheit here the past two nights, (Florida ain't supposed to be this cold) When I started my '85 this morning, the Tach. wouldn't move off of zero, and continued to not move until the truck warmed up a good bit.


Is this a common problem in the cold weather? This is the coldest we've seen since '96 so I'm not sure what is normal lol.

 

We just warmed back up to 17* today, from -17* earlier in the week. My speedo squeals and shakes for a bit also at those temps, but I just live with it.

If it's like the 2nd gens it's easy enough to pull the cluster out and re grease the connections at the back, but there has been discussion of that messing with the readout, so proceed with caution.

 

Mine is doing the same thing under ~20deg which isn't an everyday occurrence here either. Just got my 85 from SC, so this is its first real winter. 22REperformance told me to try tapping on the cluster the to check for a loose connection. No difference. Instead, I have noticed that it is actually very sluggish as it warms up. Slow to respond to changing RPM, will hang at 2500 and slowly droop down after I drop the RPM, etc. I would like to know what is going on and fix it, but it's not terribly concerning.

 

I bought a gauge cluster from a junkyard a few years ago and the tachometer was just as you described. It was slow to respond to RPM changes. I took apart the cluster and put a drop or two of WD-40 on the shaft of the tach. I then moved the needle by hand a few times and it seems to work well now. I am not sure of the exact accuracy, but it appears to be accurate enough and responds to RPM changes.

 

Cool idea, I'll try that with some silicon lube when I'm in the cluster for THIS FIX which I also need.