One thing after another...

A little background (79' V8 267). The voltage guage has been acting up on me where sometimes I had to tap the dash to get it to work. Fuel guage and Oil Pressure guages worked o.k. Friday night I changed 6 of the eight spark plugs, but couldn't get to the one behind the exhaust manifold on each side. Saturday got the oil changed at one of those quick lube type joints. Car was running smoother than she had been since I got it.

Sunday, leaving girlfirends with 45 mile drive ahead when I notice that shortly after I get on the road (less than 2 miles), the temp guage starts rising and I pull it over- reading about 225 F. Let it cool a bit and check the coolant level. Looks good. Take it to self car wash place and hose the engine down in attempt to cool her off.

Get back on the road and temp guage steadily increases, but also notice oil pressure guage is not working. Stop and hose it down again, this time for about 45 minutes. Temp guage doesn't come down. Finally decide guage is broken and get back on road.

Drives fine for about 40 miles back to my apt. Fill her up on way to work monday and notice fuel guage doesn't work. Been driving her back and forth to work with no issues and it seems to be running smoothly. I thought if it was really overheating that badly, she would've died on me or blew the radiator cap off by now.

I've checked the guages fuse on the fuse block and it appeared to be fine. I need to get the guages issue worked out so I don't totally screw anything else up, i.e. letting her overheat.

BTW, I replaced the water pump approx. 2500 miles ago and the thermostat and was having no problems until this weekend.

Sorry for all the info, I just don't know what will be relavant and what will just be side info.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Ethan

I have been having identical problems with my 82 SS. I found that the dash connection was dirty and cleaned all the contacts both on the plug and the printed circuit. I used very fine steel wool on both and made sure that there wasn't any residue left from the steel wool. ( could cause a short! ) Also, make sure you dont't rub too hard on the printed circuit. You could damage the copper contact area. Good luck!

Thanks Fun.

Yeah I'm going to do that after i get off work today. Yesterday after driving home from work, I got back in my car and started it and the guages jumped back to normal. I guess it just needs a good cleaning and I'll check the ground too while i'm doing it.

I pull mine off & clean once a year or every other year. No problems.

Should I go with a steel wool type cleaning, or one of the chemical cleaners for electrical connectors??? If the latter, anyone know of a good name brand to get?

Having been in the pc/network support business for a while(25 years) I found a pink eraser or pencil eraser works great for taking the tarnish off the edge type connectors. Steel wool may be a bit harsh for the copper film though it would certainly clean it. :)

However you clean that connection be very careful with that plug as it is very fragile and more so the older it is.