Short Drive to shop without Gauges, okay?

[DRACO A5OG]

Hey Fellas,

Noho has my gauges for rehab, but just got my Fuchs (r).

America's Tire is 2 miles away, do you think it wil be okay to drive down and back if I tape away all the connectors?

tia,

Jim

[80-911SC]

I would say your ok ... I know you can run with out the speedo in .. I have done that ...

the car will run even if a gauge is bad or fuse removed .... you just won't know if your warm or not or revs etc ....

But then again you know your car and likely dont look at your tach every time you shift .... just make sure you have a little gas ....

I would remove the rims and take them down in my pick up ... I dont think that your close to me though ....

[95avblm3]

If this is an early car, the alternator light, oddly enough, was wired such that if it burned out, the alternator would not charge the battery... so on the same token, if the bulb is not there due to the guages being out then the same issue would result.

If this is for the '85 in your sig, it could be completely different (hopefully) due to the advancement of the electronics in our cars. I guess my post here is a call to the experts to chime in and say if I am on to something or you will be okay.

Hope this helped and didn't confuse things.

[diverdan]

I did it on a newly purchased SC that was a theft recovery missing some gauges. I thought that all the connectors were protected, but had to jump out and disconnect the battery in mid-trip due to smoke and acrid smell! Be very careful. Quick disconect to battery and fire extinguisher advised.

Dan

[dshepp806]

On some, it has been stated that the bulb is certainly "part" of the circuit.

Best!

Doyle

[ivangene]

you'll be amazed how much air comes straight at your chest -

cold cold cold air and LOTS of it

but I have done this - for a short trip (5 miles) - speedo was out for a week and I commuted daily ~20/ea way -

cold cold air!

[rwest]

Forget any damage from driving without gauges, I would be more concerned about damage done by the tire shop! I vote to just get the rims to them for mounting and then you have two less things to worry about.

-Rutager

[Joe Bob]

Should be OK....but anal as I am, I always take my tires in. I don't like to chance my oil lines and torque values of my nuts to someone else.

[ivangene]

good point - some tire shops dont even know how to lift these cars

you can take them in 2 by 2 if you dont have a way to take all 4 in at once - I have become more of a "drop em off, and pick em up" tire guy myself

[shadowjack1]

Once while working on my SC, I had the oil level/Temp. gauge out. Turned the key, right away a wire started to burn. Never did that again. My car was a 79 SC. YMMV

[DRACO A5OG]

Ah Thanks Fellas!

I take my car to these guys all the time and I trained them on my car, they even use my jack pad and do 2 at time and use a torque wrench to spec.

I know the 85 alt light is on a seperate closed circuit so it should be okay. I taped everything off and will not be using any lights either.

Again thank you Gents!

Jim

[ivangene]

pics of the new shoes ----

you know we love pics

[DRACO A5OG]

Done No Issues! Thanks again Fellas!

[Ramathorn]

Im still really confused by the whole short trip thing and why so many people are against it. I understand the condensation burn off aspect but, hell i live in a city where our espresso stand is 2 miles away, one of my jobs is 5 miles away and my other job is 4 miles away from our house our city in total is less than 30 square miles and maybe once a week i travel outside of city limits. I mean at 30 years old and 130k miles coming from germany to hawaii to georgia then upto washington i got a feeling sometime in my cars life it was used for a few short trips.

[Joe Bob]

Jimmy isn't that anal about a short trip, it's about driving w/o gauges.....he's also Jonesing about his new wheels and tires.

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by Joe Bob

Jimmy isn't that anal about a short trip, it's about driving w/o gauges.....he's also Jonesing about his new wheels and tires.

M, you hit the nail right on my big buddha head

Hot Damn, they look good, nice not to have the center part of the rims sticking out like a low rider

But to address the short trip oil related issue, yeah buddy with his 78 would get horrible yellow gunk in his oil and cap, he just could not get it over 160-170 degrees. I advised he take the long way and at higher RPM to help reduce it.

[dshepp806]

Draco: NHS reworking all of your gauges? Curious...

Doyle

[ivangene]

many short trips with no long trips means water condenses in the case - and WILL cause issues

if you have no means of long trips, change the oil a lot more frequently
(not to you Jim...to Ryan)

[ivangene]

BTW Ryan....my buddy just arrived in Yakima with his new to him RED Boxster Spider - look out for him...he's a great guy and if you catch him..stop and introduce yourself - his name is Amar

[DRACO A5OG]

Originally Posted by dshepp806

Draco: NHS reworking all of your gauges? Curious...

Doyle

Yeap, all, re-paint the orange's inner cover, new bezel, glass, polish and calibrating everything $700 The works minus out cover, need to keep my tags to replace gauges.