[OCMDGTO]

My in dash tach on my 69 GTO stopped working after 9 years of service. I parked the car after a four hour road trip and it has not worked since. The car drives fine. I have an HEI distributor and the positive and negative coil connections on the cap both light up a test light while running. I believe the next step is to check for power at the connections on the back side of the tach. Easier said than done unless you have child size hands. What is the easiest way to access the tach for testing/removal? Thanks for any help, Chris

[coonhunter70]

interested in this also.

[Greg Reid]

I'm having a problem with my tach also and what was suggested to me sounds like a good idea...I just haven't done it yet. Get yourself (buy or borrow) another tach and attach it right at the distributor.

[surfsama]

Hard to remove and a bloody nightmare to reinstall. There's a screw at the very top that (as you say) needs baby hands to access. I used a 1/4 drive, extensions, universal joint, gum to hold the screw, and an inspection mirror. If your thin and flexible you can do it with the seat in if not...might have to remove the driver seat.

It's interesting that your tach worked with the HEI for 9 years. I had to have my 68 modified to work with non-points type distributors.

I would check the fuse and get alligator clips and wires to bypass the power lead and tach lead to see if it's a bad connection/wire issue. Check the ground too. Basically, try eliminating any reason other than the tach itself.

[Greg Reid]

^^^ I'm with you there. I've removed and replaced my instrument panel several times during panel restoration and later replaced it with a better part. The final time, when everything was just like I wanted it, that's when the tach quit working. I refuse to take it out again anytime soon after so many years restoring the car. I just want to drive it...tach or no tach.

[OCMDGTO]

Surfsama, I have also heard that stock tachs are not compatible with non points distributors. I'm not sure what the true story is there. I had a 70 GTO with the same HEI setup that worked flawlessly for ten years that had points when I got it.