YACT: Tachometer needle was moving erratically this morning...

[MaxDSP]

Car is a 1998 Mitsubishi Galant, with 92K miles, 4 cyclinder auto.

First noticed it at a stop light a block away from my house, the needle was twitching. When the light turned green, the needle started going up but while it was doing that, it still kept twitching. A few minutes later, it started acting normally. Weird thing was that I didnt notice any unusual vibrations or shaking even when the needle dropped to like 300 rpm at a red light. I had a dodge before this and when it had it's transmission problem, the whole car would shake, but didn't feel anything similar in the Galant. Could it just be the tach going bad or is this signalling a tranny breakdown waiting to happen?

 

[DingDingDao]

Could be a lot of things...bad plug, bad injector, timing belt probs...when's the last time you changed your spark plugs? It's the easiest and cheapest problem to fix, so I'd check on that first...

 

[KingNothing]

If you didn't feel the engine's RPMs actually change, I would say your alternator is going bad.

 

[Leejai]

hey..i thought i was the only one who had this problem...expect mine's with the speedometer....(i coughed it up to my car being 13 years old)

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Leejai
hey..i thought i was the only one who had this problem...expect mine's with the speedometer....(i coughed it up to my car being 13 years old)

I believe the word you're looking for is "chalked."

Viper GTS

 

[Viperoni]

Mine did that when my alternator belt snapped causing my battery voltage to get quite low.

 

[geno]

So your Tach would bounce irratically, but you didn't notice your engine's RPMs changing, correct? If so, it's the tach itself obviously. If that's the only gauge that's acting funny, I doubt it's your alternator. My guess is a bad gauge/engine ground.

 

[MaxDSP]

yea, it was bouncing like a bat outta hell but became normal a few minutes later. The entire ride from home to work was only like 15 minutes, it was acting funny for less than 5 and then normal the rest of the time. The speedo seemed to be acting normal also. If it's the alternator that might be the source of the problem, what other signs should I look for?

 

[MaxDSP]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: Leejai
hey..i thought i was the only one who had this problem...expect mine's with the speedometer....(i coughed it up to my car being 13 years old)

I believe the word you're looking for is "chalked."

Viper GTS

LMAO...didnt catch that