I work in the auto industry and am familiar with some of these types of
problems. It never ceases to amaze me the depth of detail required for
things that seem mundane. Connectors and switch contacts seem like simple,
boring, commodity components. But right now I'm sure there are OEM suppliers
studying these things at the atomic level trying to make them reliable and
defect free.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-6pack@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-6pack@autox.team.net]On
> Behalf Of Phil Parcells
> Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 8:31 AM
> To: 6pack@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: OT: mysterious electrical problem
>
>
> Ditto on a 94 Civic my son had last year.
>
> An automobile must survive in the harshest extremes of environment
> imaginable, and other than moving parts, this type of thing is where
> reliability problems will rear their ugly heads.
>
> Phil
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "William Maslin" <cwrm4@yahoo.com>
> To: "Vink, Graham" <vinkg@fleishman.com>; <6pack@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 7:56 AM
> Subject: Re: mysterious electrical problem
>
>
> > Not to encourage off-topic content, but I had a friend
> > with an '89 Grand Prix with this same exact problem
> > and I had 2 '87 RX7's with a dozen similar problems.
> >
> > In all cases I found the culprit to be cracked solder
> > joints where the wiring harness connected to the
> > circuit boards for the display (or other components).
> >
> > Under a magnifying glass you could see a concentric
> > crack(s) in the solder joint. These are caused by
> > constant flexing/vibration and poor support on the
> > board for the connector.
> >
> > When it's cold, the gap in the crack increases just
> > enough to cause a bad connection. I could usually fix
> > the problem by simply applying the tip of a soldering
> > iron to the joint and re-melting the solder.
> >
> > Some RX7's are plagued with these type of problems as
> > Mazda used too brittle solder on the 86-88 cars. I
> > specifically remember one guy (not me!) on the RX7
> > email list would sign his messages "1987 RX7 GXL Made
> > in England".
> >
> > William
> > '74 TR6 never had an electrical problem (knock on
> > wood!)
> >
> >
> > --- "Vink, Graham" <vinkg@fleishman.com> wrote:
> > > This question actually applies to my 1989 Isuzu
> > > Trooper but a) it's an
> > > interesting electrical glitch that would be worthy
> > > of a British car and b)
> > > it's not about roller rockers.
> > >
> > > So ... when the temperature is cold outside, both my
> > > fuel and temp gauges
> > > stop working (which would indicate they have a
> > > common electrical feed.)
> > > Power on both sides of the fuse is OK.
> > >
> > > When the truck has warmed up after 10 minutes of
> > > driving, both gauges start
> > > to work. This would appear to be a
> > > temperature-related connection problem,
> > > but any ideas on where to start tracking it? As
> > > everybody knows, taking
> > > apart the dash in modern cars is a pain in the butt.
> > >
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> > > Graham
> >
> >
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