Gauge Failure Prevention


PashaGT

GT Owner
Apr 23, 2016
178
Orange County
I have used the CYTEK charger on some of my cars and his has worked very well. I must say the factory charger still works very well and I normally have the GT on that one.
 

Scooter

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 15, 2009
166
Would you recommend I buy a new Ford OEM Tach or what's the scoop on the rebuild / cost?
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
Would you recommend I buy a new Ford OEM Tach or what's the scoop on the rebuild / cost?

The problem with a Ford replacement is that it will fail with the same probability as your old gauge. Check into the rebuild first.
 

Joehand1

Tungsten GT Owner
Sep 20, 2007
599
Hattiesburg, MS, USA
I dunno, it’s hard for me to believe that the intermittent and hard gauge failures aren’t somehow related. I’ve never had either problem on any other vehicle I’ve owned in the last 45 years, no matter how shitty they were.
 

Scooter

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 15, 2009
166
The problem with a Ford replacement is that it will fail with the same probability as your old gauge. Check into the rebuild first.

I'm ready to repair my tach now can someone let me know the process / cost on the repair? I'm going to just buy a new OEM soon tired of looking at a broken gauge.
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
I'm ready to repair my tach now can someone let me know the process / cost on the repair? I'm going to just buy a new OEM soon tired of looking at a broken gauge.

Send it to Kendall.
 

ultrasportracing

GT Owner
Aug 31, 2011
490
Perth Western Australia
The price for the repaired tach or speedo is $725 with exchange. This will include a 10-year warranty. You can send to us at;

Cool Tech LLC
25071 Wintergreen Ct.
Newhall, CA 91381

Best regards,
Kendall
 

ALLRYZE

GT Owner
Mar 10, 2012
48
ATLANTA
Does anyone have a specific recommendation for (or against) installing a Speed Hut cluster or an alternative brand? I'm on my 2nd GT and this one had 300 miles on MSO when arrived last year. Had no issues with the tachometer or other gaures as with the 2006 RE: occasional oil pressure gauge ( which also reset after restarting the engine). I just passed 1,250 miles on my 2005 and the speedometer stuck on an Atlanta - I-75 interstate "on ramp" at 138MPH. Nothing I can do seems to free up the needle. Now, the fuel gauge has decided to remain on empty with a full tank.

What's the advice here? Replace the 2 failed gauges or just go for the entire Speed Hut set? Ford is up to sending me about a dozen airbag notices a month so time to get that done at the same time. Last but no least, how complicated is the entire dash gauge swap for a large Atlanta Ford dealer? Haven't called any of them as of yet but certainly don't want the dash damaged by pulling out the old unit.

BTW, I do keep the GT and all my cars on a battery tender all the time.

Thanks to anyone for advice.
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
Instead of the speedhut cluster which changes the look consider that there are replacement gauges directly from Autometer for the small sized gauges. These have the same appearance as the originals but use a different mechanism that is not prone to failure. I can't find the link right away and the autometer web site search doesn't find them. Perhaps someone else can post it. I'll look later and post it if I can find it.

A member here (nota4re) can rebuild the large gauges (speedometer and tachometer) using replacement innards that will also not fail.



Replacements directly from Ford are the original style and will fail with the same frequency as the originals.
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
I will add that the battery tender isn't a guarantee as the battery ages. One of my gauges didn't start up but was OK after a restart a little later. The battery was 7 years old and I replaced it and the gauges were all OK.
 

ALLRYZE

GT Owner
Mar 10, 2012
48
ATLANTA
Thanks for the info. I wish I had logged back on before I pulled the trigger on Speed Hut. The gauges arrived well packed and looked great. I opted for the aluminum backing and purely subjective. I had lost the fuel gauge ( at zero always ) as mentioned and when the speedometer stuck...started my search.

Took my car to a long term Ford dealer to install the new set. The vacuum gauge would not calibrate to zero. Speed Hut sent a replacement after getting somewhat nasty with the tech. Of course, this was after 2.5 hours of attempts to zero the boost gauge and more $$$. New gauge calibrated. Final install shows the speedometer out of vertical by several degrees as well as the oil pressure gauge. The SH reply, “the technician installs the gauges on a bench and you can easily back off the retaining nut and adjust”. Really? Easily? After they’ve been installed? Then, as posted here ( yeah, I didn’t search and only posted, like an idiot ) the speedometer definitely jumps in the area between zero and 15 MPH. The Ford tech also noted the amp meter showed charging incorrect by 2.7 volts.

As another poster said, for ten cents on a buck, it’s less painful but you get what you pay for. Three emails to SH have been met with excuses and/avoiding my questions until I pressed harder.

Last but the most aggravating, they don’t care if their gauge fails. They replace it but the additional time, labor and exposure of your GT is all on you. No apology, no offer to assist in expense. I suppose now I should check for the correct 18V converter vs 12. No one to blame but my lack of research.

All said and done, I now know I have gas and can take down the RPM VS MPH card another GT owner helped me with, to gauge my speed.

Cheers and thx again for the feedback
 

Specracer

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Nov 28, 2005
7,081
MA
Sorry to hear of your SH issues. Mine were plug and play many years ago, and have been flawless ever since. Glad you have everything resolved.
 

Joehand1

Tungsten GT Owner
Sep 20, 2007
599
Hattiesburg, MS, USA
OK, say what you will about keeping a charger on your car but I still haven't had even an intermittent gauge failure since I started keeping the car on a tender.