1963 Imperial Instrument Cluster

[RKC]

Had the gauges in the cluster tested and calibrated. Now the oil pressure and temperature gauges (after warmed up) read correctly on start up and then slowly go back to home position within 20 seconds after start up. The fuel gauge does not work at all. Fuel sending unit in tank tested ok on the bench. I tested all three with a ground wire (real fast) and all of the gauges moved off of home fast. Amp gauge goes back and forth fast sometimes. Installed new alternator and electronic voltage regulator. Thanks for your help!

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Sounds like you may have a bad 5 volt regulator for the gauges.

Gallery: RTE Instrument Cluster Voltage Regulator Fixes Erratic Gauges - Mopar Connection Magazine | A comprehensive daily resource for Mopar enthusiast news, features and the latest Mopar tech

In our older Mopars, manufactured before the 1980s, instrument clusters often relied on mechanical voltage regulators to drop the 12-volt system voltage down to a near-steady 5-volt supply to the gauges. The original cluster voltage regulators (limiters) were a point-style with moving mechanical...

moparconnectionmagazine.com

RTE limiter - rte

www.rt-eng.com

They don't list one for a 1963 Imperial, but you still might be able to make one work.


Pulsating amp gauge not unusual with the off-shore electronic voltage regulators. They pulse the field on and off and that can show up on the gauge.


Jeff

 

[Big_John]

The voltage limiter is in the temperature gauge and not external like the ones listed above.

Who "calibrated" your instruments? They should have checked that voltage limiter when they were doing that.

 

[1962 Crown Conv]

Had the gauges in the cluster tested and calibrated. Now the oil pressure and temperature gauges (after warmed up) read correctly on start up and then slowly go back to home position within 20 seconds after start up. The fuel gauge does not work at all. Fuel sending unit in tank tested ok on the bench. I tested all three with a ground wire (real fast) and all of the gauges moved off of home fast. Amp gauge goes back and forth fast sometimes. Installed new alternator and electronic voltage regulator. Thanks for your help!

The instrument voltage regulator is in the temperature gauge. They wear out when the tiny wires to the breaker points inside the guage break. I use a Scott Drake adjustable external instrument voltage regulator. First disconnect the capacitor in the guage, then adjust the Scott Drake regulator as high as it will go. The standard voltage setting for other external regulators is not high enough, so the adjustable regulator is necessary.

The bouncing amp guage, I have found in my case, was caused by intermittent shorts in the radio suppression capacitors or condensers. They don't last forever. You may have one on the alternator, another on the coil, another on the clock, maybe another on the back of the instrument panel, anywhere there are breaker points. Removing or replacing them could solve your problem. If not, check for bad connections on the bulkhead connector, and bad grounds. There needs to be a wire grounding the alternator body to the voltage regulator body, and a wire grounding the headlights to the body of the voltage regulator.