Oh great, another gauge failure.


Wwabbit

GT Owner
Mar 21, 2012
1,259
Knoxville, TN
Boring topic I know. But this one has a twist. White 05 hadn't been out of the garage in a few weeks, so it needed a little air. A little 20 min excursion. During the ride I lost the tach and the engine temp. Best I can tell, both died at the same time. Hadn't heard of that before. How weird, how disappointing. But I'm hangin' in there for the BIG FIX we're all hoping for. Gotta be tough I suppose.
 

shelbyelite

PERMANENTLY BANNED
May 10, 2007
1
Check your ground and replace the battery with the sears diehard. Good chance they will come back to life
 

GT35065

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Bet not, those are the same two gauges I lost at the same time. Worth a try though, didn't help mine.
 

roketman

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 24, 2005
7,996
ma.
John ,I got a temp gauge if you need one.
What happened with the GT3 RS?
 

RADGT

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Aug 31, 2006
858
Connecticut
I think unrelated to the gauges, there is potential problem with the die hard. I think in addition to top posts, there are anterior post that are covered with plastic. They are very close to a metal part of the frame on the GT. although I doubt there could be an arc, in a front end even small collision, the metal frame could contact the battery and result in a fire. I am not sure of this but curious as to what others think.

Stu
 

topshot

GT Owner
Feb 6, 2012
280
Metro Detroit, MIchigan
John,
Did you keep it on a tender?
 

Wwabbit

GT Owner
Mar 21, 2012
1,259
Knoxville, TN
Check your ground and replace the battery with the sears diehard. Good chance they will come back to life
I tried to buy a Diehard last week. Sears online an on the phone says they don't carry a Group75 batter for this car anymore. I called your guy Eric to see what you guys are doing, he said he just bought one that day - weird. Sears maintains they don't have. Will try again. thanks. I sure hope it helps.

Bet not, those are the same two gauges I lost at the same time. Worth a try though, didn't help mine.
bummer

John ,I got a temp gauge if you need one.
What happened with the GT3 RS?
Thanks, Ron. My concern is that all existing gauges may be defective. If there is a fix coming that involves the gauges then a new one would be important to have. I don't care for the Speedhut solution for some reason. So I'll wait out this current dilemma. PPI is complete on the RS. Looks good. Janine was fast before, but now I'm in trouble.
 

Simon

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 19, 2013
1,230
Houston
Did you use Moorespeed for ppi?

[/QUOTE]
Thanks, Ron. My concern is that all existing gauges may be defective. If there is a fix coming that involves the gauges then a new one would be important to have. I don't care for the Speedhut solution for some reason. So I'll wait out this current dilemma. PPI is complete on the RS. Looks good. Janine was fast before, but now I'm in trouble.[/QUOTE]
 

Biginch Blake

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Nov 4, 2008
983
Rockville, Indiana
I lost the speedometer a couple of weeks ago, Ron do you have one?
 

andreikoc

GT Owner
Feb 3, 2013
85
Lost my tach a month ago. Ordered Speedhut and had Ryan at Cooltech install them. When I started the car today to go to Cooltech the voltmeter failed. Two turns of the key and two lost gauges. Ford Tach was going to be $1280 and I think Volts is $800. So now have Speedhut and the drama is over.

Sheeesh!
 

Wwabbit

GT Owner
Mar 21, 2012
1,259
Knoxville, TN
Did you use Moorespeed for ppi?
Thanks, Ron. My concern is that all existing gauges may be defective. If there is a fix coming that involves the gauges then a new one would be important to have. I don't care for the Speedhut solution for some reason. So I'll wait out this current dilemma. PPI is complete on the RS. Looks good. Janine was fast before, but now I'm in trouble.[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

Targa Porsche
 

GT Venum

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Dec 4, 2010
325
Wisconsin
I think unrelated to the gauges, there is potential problem with the die hard. I think in addition to top posts, there are anterior post that are covered with plastic. They are very close to a metal part of the frame on the GT. although I doubt there could be an arc, in a front end even small collision, the metal frame could contact the battery and result in a fire. I am not sure of this but curious as to what others think.

Stu

Stu,

I saw a GT the other day with the Diehard batter installed and you are correct that the distance from the battery post to the structural frame of the car looked to be about a 1/4" to a 1/2". Up until I saw that I was going to switch my batter to a Diehard but that doesn't look like a good safe solution. He also had to grind down the side of the battery to make it fit into the battery box. I will wait to see what Ford decides to do with the gauges and leave the Optima in the car.
 

Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
Stu,

I saw a GT the other day with the Diehard batter installed and you are correct that the distance from the battery post to the structural frame of the car looked to be about a 1/4" to a 1/2". Up until I saw that I was going to switch my batter to a Diehard but that doesn't look like a good safe solution. He also had to grind down the side of the battery to make it fit into the battery box. I will wait to see what Ford decides to do with the gauges and leave the Optima in the car.

That car had the wrong battery installed. The correct Diehard fits perfectly with no modification. I have one in my car and installed it myself. The side terminals are flat and capped when not in use, so I don't see any problems with them. If someone is really concerned about it, they can further cover the positive terminal with a rubber insulator.
 

shelbyelite

PERMANENTLY BANNED
May 10, 2007
1
Agreed, the correct diehard fits perfectly with ZERO modifications. That person obviously had the wrong battery. And regardless of the gauge issues, the optima batteries are crap. They fail so easily its not even funny.
 

RALPHIE

GT Owner
Mar 1, 2007
7,278
Agreed, the correct diehard fits perfectly with ZERO modifications. That person obviously had the wrong battery. And regardless of the gauge issues, the optima batteries are crap. They fail so easily its not even funny.

Fortunately, mine work just great - both the original and the replacement. I'm not saying others don't have problems, but I've found a good Optima can still work fine.
 

BlackICE

GT Owner
Nov 2, 2005
1,416
SF Bay Area in California
Fortunately, mine work just great - both the original and the replacement. I'm not saying others don't have problems, but I've found a good Optima can still work fine.
My original battery lasted 7 years, I replaced with another red top. It was getting a little weak but still started the car.
 
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KJRGT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 4, 2006
2,840
SoCal
Me too.
OEM Optima was working like a champ through 2011. Changed it to the Sears spec battery figuring its time was up.
No probs with the Sears the past two years either
In SoCal, never used a tender or charger on either battery. Cruise it every 2-3 weeks. No gauge failures either. Nonetheless I changed over to Speedhut last year just to be safe and shelved the OEM gauges.
Good GT Gremlims with #1769!
 

fjpikul

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jan 4, 2006
11,475
Belleville, IL
OEM Optima at 8 years and counting.
 

KJD

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Dec 21, 2005
1,012
Location, Location
OEM Optima at 8 years and counting.

That's amazing!

Mine was going strong but last year I chickened out and bought another Ford-badged Optima.

I'm saving the original which of course means it doesn't matter at all! :lol
 

ENZO BTR

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 11, 2005
1,048
Southern California
My original Optima lasted 7 years with almost no Battery Tender time and common stints of a month or two without starting. Second one is almost two years old and still fine.