91 CRX Si Tach

Hello all...I have a 91 rex si with 68K miles. I have had continuing
problems with my tach. After the car is warmed up the tach needle
reads 0...bottomed. Sometimes it feels like it wants to stall, but it
never does. I have addressed this as an idle problem, but I have tried
everything, ie... new dizzy, new eacv, new plugs, wires, air filter,
fuel filter. I have check all vacuum lines and there is no leak. I
took it to a Honda dealer and they say its the tach not reading
right...cause my ignition timing is dead on spec. If it is the tach do
I have to replace the whole cluster? I don’t understand how it can be
my tach if it reads correctly until my car warms up... Any insight or
tips would be greatly appreciated. Also, I just installed a B&M short
shifter, and it seems hard to get into gears...It was a little
difficult before the short shifter. Any ideas on what I could
do....THANKS!!!!

 

Check the blue wire from the distributor. It goes to the coil. It's either
internally cracked at the connector, or its connection inside the
distributor is corroded.

Shift more slowly...

....which defeats the purpose of a "short shifter", of course.

Synchros need time to drag the gears into synchronization before the baulk
rings will allow the dogs to engage. A "short shifter" denies the synchros
that time, unless you shift slowly, which defeats the purpose of a "short
shifter", of course.

Also, your synchros are getting a bit worn, and your "short shifter" is
throwing even more load on them than the stock shifter did. You will wear
the synchros out faster now. Not only that, your efforts to force the lever
into gear are wearing the shift forks more quickly as well.

"Short shifters" are a good way of wrecking your tranny in short order.
Have you ever priced a tranny replacement? Rebuilds are even worse.

I'd uninstall that "short shifter" ASAP if I were you, and leave that sort
of nonsense to the real racers it was designed for.

 

The igniter has one lead output called the tach output. If by chance
the igniter tach portion quits when the igniter gets hot then it a sign
of an igniter problems or heat dissipation problem (missing conducting
grease?) What you can do is to jump the tach output directly to your
tachometer to troubleshoot.

 

How exactly do I jump the tach output....Can you explain. Thanks for
the response.

 

Yeah, that's the blue wire I told him to check.

Good point.

jim beam, your thoughts on this?

Or see the new page here:

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/igniter-operation/off-car-testing.html

 

if the tach output quits when hot, i'd say the igniter's just about to
fail. change it immediately - you don't want to be stranded in the
middle of a busy freeway intersection. trust me on that one.

otoh, it could just be a bad tach connector in the cluster. the
instrument circuit board is just a flimsy piece of plastic. sometimes
disassembly, cleaning & reassembly cleans the connections sufficiently
to make everything right again.

 

Unplug the blue wire (the smaller one on the side of the igniter)
Clip an alligator clip on it and run the lead to your tach. At the
tach is the same blue wire. This is not the best test. Instead
follow these instructions:

1.) Probe an analog voltmeter negative on small blue wire nearest to
the igniter. (The teminal on the left side of the igniter.)
2.) The voltmeter positive goes to positive battery.
3.) Voltage should rise/pulse and stay there during a hot idle.