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Re: mysterious electrical problem

To: "Vink, Graham" <vinkg@fleishman.com>, 6pack@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: mysterious electrical problem
From: William Maslin <cwrm4@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Dec 2002 04:56:11 -0800 (PST)
Not to encourage off-topic content, but I had a friend
with an '89 Grand Prix with this same exact problem
and I had 2 '87 RX7's with a dozen similar problems.

In all cases I found the culprit to be cracked solder
joints where the wiring harness connected to the
circuit boards for the display (or other components).

Under a magnifying glass you could see a concentric
crack(s) in the solder joint. These are caused by
constant flexing/vibration and poor support on the
board for the connector. 

When it's cold, the gap in the crack increases just
enough to cause a bad connection. I could usually fix
the problem by simply applying the tip of a soldering
iron to the joint and re-melting the solder.

Some RX7's are plagued with these type of problems as
Mazda used too brittle solder on the 86-88 cars. I
specifically remember one guy (not me!) on the RX7
email list would sign his messages "1987 RX7 GXL Made
in England".

William
'74 TR6 never had an electrical problem (knock on
wood!)


--- "Vink, Graham" <vinkg@fleishman.com> wrote:
> This question actually applies to my 1989 Isuzu
> Trooper but a) it's an
> interesting electrical glitch that would be worthy
> of a British car and b)
> it's not about roller rockers.
> 
> So ... when the temperature is cold outside, both my
> fuel and temp gauges
> stop working (which would indicate they have a
> common electrical feed.)
> Power on both sides of the fuse is OK.
> 
> When the truck has warmed up after 10 minutes of
> driving, both gauges start
> to work. This would appear to be a
> temperature-related connection problem,
> but any ideas on where to start tracking it? As
> everybody knows, taking
> apart the dash in modern cars is a pain in the butt.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Graham


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