1993 Integra Tacometer????

[hb2u]

Hi there. I'm having a problem that I hope you guys can help me with....sorry about the long message.

I have a 1993 Acura Integra with a 4 cylinder 1.8 L engine and a 5 spd manual transmission. It was running fine until this past weekend. On Saturday I drove it about 45 miles at highway speed (65-75 mph and 3,000-3500 rpm) parked it for about 5 hours, and then got back on the highway for the trip home. After about 15 minutes of 55 mph driving, the tacometer needle started to bounce. It went from 2500 rpm to 3,000 and sometimes 3,500rpm. And it was BOUNCING. the engine speed did not change in relation to this movement. After this went on for about 2 minutes, the engine lost power for a second (As if I had totally and suddenly removed my foot from the gas pedal) it made both my wife and I lean forward cause it happened so quickly. I speeded up (to try to get closer to home before it died completly on me - Tacometer over 3500 ) and then the car was fine for the rest of the ride.

I Drove the car again that evening and after letting it warm up I got out on a highway and the same thing happened, the tacometer needle bounced around and then the engine lost power, except it did it 3 - 4 times on a ten mile drive. Each time the car lost power for only a split second.

The chilton manual showed that the tacometer gets input from the igniter module of the distributor assembly. I just had the distributor replaced last year though and haven't even driven 10,000 miles on the new one.

The past few months though I have heard a noise coming from behind the instrument panel. It sounded like a flex cable and plastic gears in the tacometer weren't quite meshing right or they were worn and there was a lot of play in them,which caused them to rattle around and make some noise. This always happened around the 2500-3500 rpm range. It kind of made sense that the gears might be worn out at this range of the gauge since the car has 209,000 miles on it and most of those miles were accumulated in the 2,500 - 3,500 rpm range. Problem is that now I realize there aren't any "gears" in the tac cause it's an electronic unit. Maybe the noise I hear is arcing of a signal within the tac unit?

The car did not give me any problems on the way into work today. (10 miles of back roads and low engine speeds.)

Thanks for any help that you can give, I really don't want to turn a mechanic loose on this thing if A. I can fix it myself, or B. I can at least point him in the right direction.

Thanks again!

[Rgacke]

did you get a check engine light? You can take your car to a shop just to get your computer checked if its throwing any codes, shouldn't cost to much and if it works then it'll send ya on the right path. Look for other posts 'bouncing tach' in the tech area. That might help clue you in to what the problem is. Also search recalls, technical sevice builtons, and try www.g2ic.com this is about as much as I can help you.

[92 Teg-B18A]

Yeah, G2IC has alot of stuff for gen 2 tegs. Go to Tep Tips, then Engine, then there should be a listing for Bouncing Tachometer. Hope that helps you cure your tach problem !