Clock/Guage Troubleshooting
I recently purchased a radio for my 1971. As long as the dash is apart I want to be sure my guages a operational. My clock used to work, but stopped several months ago. I touched pos. to back of clock and neg to housing. No movement of hands. Is this correct to check? Can voltmeter be cheked the same way? My oil pressure guage is not reading. Is it possible the line is clogged? Is that common? Fuse is good to guages. Lastly, Can I use 4 ohm speaker with original factory radio or do I need 8 -10 ohm speakers? Thanks for your help....Jimmy
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Re: Clock/Guage Troubleshooting
The clock not running on the bench (you set it up right) isn't unusual. There are two wear items: (1) spring cocking solenoid points and (2) lubrication. With power applied, rap the clock and see if it starts ticking.
The mainspring winds down as the clock ticks closing a set of electrical points to energize a solenoid that re-cocks the mainspring. You'll hear a 'click' every 60-90 seconds.
If the clock runs for a while and then stops, it's time to overhaul it...
There is no 'voltmeter' per se in your car, it's an ammeter. BUT, it actually is a voltmeter that looks at the difference between two electrical points in the car and 'infers' the amperage the alternator is putting out to create that potential difference.
There's no good way to do more than a 'go/no-go' test of the ammeter. That's to take a 1.5 V battery and MOMENTARILY connect it to see if the ammeter needle swings in lock-step. Reverse the polarity and it'll swing the opposite way.
I would NOT use 4-ohm speakers! The factory spec was 10-ohms and standard 8-ohm impedance speakers are close enough to work OK. Going down to 4-ohms is 'pushing' it...
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