Quick Question: Tachometer Malfunction

I got myself a set of those "Do it yourself" Accel 8mm double core wire kits. It went together great, if I may add. However, shortly after performing the upgrade, my tachometer acts like it is stuck. Hitting bumps will get it to randomly work again. My question is:

I had to reach around the coil pack to feed a few of the wires on the passenger side through and under the hoses and engine harnesses. I also replaced the short jumper between the coil and the center plug on the distributor. Is it possible I just knocked the tachometer lead from the coil's primary circuit loose? I consulted my Haynes manual and it says that the tach lead is in the grey harness leading up to the coil. Since the engine was hot and it was already dark out there when I got home, I will have to look at it tomorrow... Would this be the first place you guys would look on the rear of the coil body facing the firewall and out of sight?

Yes, that would be the first place I would look.

You might have just knocked the connection out a bit.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions. You rock 'LT. ;)

EDIT: Update on the situation - Sure enough one of the plugs looked a little askew in the socket. I pushed it in firmly with a light wiggle until the clasp clicked back into place. Started the rig up - no more erratic, jumping or completely dead tachometer. File this one under our solved mysteries folder. :icon16:

ROTFL! Luckily I had overnight to ponder on it all. It just made sense to go back over the places I touched things in the process of getting the new wires in place. I just wish that the rest of life's problems were this easy.

When I recently changed my plug wires a damaged a vacuum line going to the back of the plenum causing an engine idle problem.

Best to always retrace your steps before you move forward to other things.

Update: Had to ditch the Accel wire kit and sell them off used to a friend for use on a Ford V-6 pickup truck instead- having to go back to plain old OEM wires. I was getting miss-fires at idle and radio/instrumentation interferrence at cruise and high RPM speeds. The spiral wrapped cores have nearly no RFI shielding, tricking and triggering sensitive elctronics I carry in the truck, as well as goofing with some sensor reading (I think). It also contributed, but not 100% certain to an ignition module failure. (That was a bitch to figure out and replace - they hid that gadget *deep* in the distributor) Tossing in a cheapo, OEM style silicone wire kit for $16 broguht the truck back from the brink. But a slightly missing, loping idle has returned, suspect a fuel reg., as stated in another thread.

Bottom line, get OEM wires for your 95 machine if the distributor tower has the connectors coming out of the top of the cap. This rig in my experience did not do well with "performance" parts at all. It may have all been coincidental, she is an old truck after all, but there was no immediate benefit from swithing to the "S00per F34rs0m3" ignition kits at all - burned up the ignitor module pretty harshly. It *might* be a different story if I rebuilt the ignition from the ground up using matching kits/sets, like a total MSD build up with matching ignition modules, cap, rotor, coils, wires, etc. *shrug* Next up for experimentation however, once a little cash flows in - Denso Iridium! I will happily guinea pig myself on those... stay tuned.

I would still recheck all the vacuum hoses if you have idle lope.

It is that or the CPI.

I will be checking for both over the weekend, much thanks for your insight and guidance. Hoses are cheap and so is the upper intake plenum gasket. I will get a few feet of the former and one of the latter to fully inspect the top end for leaks and such. :thumbsup:

Try Taylor wires. They are a great upgrade from stock at a reasonable price. I have had them on my 93 for about 4 years, and they are great, instant better performance when I first installed them. I ordered a set for my 95 and have to pick them up (side mounted distributor). They are a spiral core wound, RFI supressed wire.