Dodgy tachometer

[75er]

Hi everyone - I'm new here having just bought a '75 280Z a couple of months back. 500 miles of mostly trouble free motoring since then but yesterday came across a problem I've not read about before: On the way home during a fairly long drive (80 miles) noticed that the tach reading wasn't falling below 1600rpm. Initially I assumed it was a fast idle problem but when I turned off the car, the needle stayed at 1600rpm!

Next morning it had returned to zero & seemed to be functioning normally when I revved the engine in neutral for a couple of minutes (didn't have time to go for a drive). Is anyone aware of a similar issue / have any suggestions as to what the problem might be? Would rather not have to take the dash off only to find the problem is somewhere else than in the dial itself.

 

[AliK]

Hey buddy,

Welcome to the forum and we very much look forward to seeing photos of your car in due course.

I had this exact same problem - fine until the tachometer warmed up then would react slow or completely stick. It also had issues going over 5500rpm.

I took it out and took the needle by hand between extremes and all was fine again - for a while. Then the problem came back.

I finally swapped it last week for a spare (after 6 years of putting up with it) and hey presto all is fine.

If you have the patience, take it apart and clean it up, if not, you can pick one up on eBay for about £70.

In fact here's one on eBay ...

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/113112361290

 

[75er]

Many thanks - trying to figure out how to add images from iPhoto!

 

[AliK]

Not sure about iPhoto but I use an app called Tapatalk to view the forum and it's an absolute doddle on there.

Others use something like photo bucket and embed a link.

 

[AliK]

Ps beware that they are different in the 240 to the ones on the 260/280. If you buy another make sure it's the right one.

One other tip - if you do take it out, take the steering wheel off first, makes it soooooo much easier!!