It's been driving me crazy!
On initial start, the voltmeter just sits there stuck. The needle is also permanently bent towards the center of the gauge. Not a great bend, but just annoying. After 10-15 seconds. a rap on the gauge frees up the stuck needle and after that it's all good.

Finally changed my oil pressure indicator and removed the voltmeter. Using Doug's advice I carefully bent back the bezel and removed it. I was shocked at the amount of dirt on the inside of the glass cover! Cleaned that up.

Discovered that the needle is a white plastic piece. As it's a voltmeter and will be measuring magnetic fields, that made sense. But the needle is bent forwards so it rube on the dial face a bit, but only at the "at rest" position. That explains the initial sticking.

So, on the bench, with the needle "at rest", I moved the needles tip upwards from the dial face using a piece of a matchstick. Then, holding my breath, gently passed a cigarette lighter flame over it a few times.. Took great care not to burn the needle. Let it cool for a minute, removed the matchstick and Viola! the needle set into the straightened shape and it works great now. I still have the slight bend, but I'll live with that.

As a few members also have bent needles on their voltmeters, I assume that the current flow through the indicator heats it up over time to the point of distorting the needle. Or maybe it's a function of continuous driving ie. Highway over short trips that allows the needle heat up.

If so, perhaps this is a way to determine just how much a car has been used, as The Speedometer which encompasses the odometer, as Jeff mentioned in his excellent video today, is so easy to just swap out.

My car shows 180,000 Kilometers so Perhaps the needle bends somewhere before that.

Would be interesting to know what other cars have in terms of mileage and bent of straight needles.

 

probably bent by someone cleaning the inside of the glass. Easy to damage those gauges and needles when removing the half moon cover inside.

I don't think they bend by themselves. They might stop working, but nothing melts on the face of the gauge.

my voltmeter sticks a little too, then it starts working. Aging makes them lazy on startup.

digital gauges might be more accurate, but they don't last. Some circuit board is always burning out.

 

Aye, mine has been lazy since i got it. I merely accept that. I am a bit lazy nowadays. that age thing. Ol guy, old goat, old dog, old house old cars.... Even my compurters, except one are old...

Carl

 

Carl,
you ok to me. After all, your Grosvenor Brown XJ is just like mine.

 

FWIW, every Series III I've owned or driven has a slow moving voltmeter. I dunno if it is inherent to the design or an actual fault. if the latter, it is a widespread condition

Cheers
DD

 

Hello Ian,
Here in Australia, the "bent needle" is a common sight on the classic XJ saloons. My only observation over the years is that it is peculiar to the voltmeter and doesn't affect the other instruments, so even though we experience very high ambient cabin temperatures here (especially in the North) that is unlikely a factor because the other instruments are unaffected. All I can assume is that the instrument "runs hot" because of high resistence in the circuit that the other instruments aren't exposed to. Perhaps interestingly, the Series 2 1977 that I have owned since 1987 and done over 700,000 km (almost 450,000 miles) in has never suffered from his problem; despite being my daily driver. What it has had, that differs from my other XJ's is that one the three occasions I have had the dashboard out of the car over the years, each time, I have given all electrical terminals, connectors and junctions a thorough cleaning and applied dielectric grease to stop corrosion (I have lived by the seaside a lot of my adult life). I was a mechanic, not an electrical engineer... so I cannot prove it made a difference... but the needle is still straight and true... just my thoughts...

 

Hi Ian...
I'd bet 8 out of 10 Voltage Gauges that I see have the bent needle... Not sure what causes it, but it seems to be pretty common...
Seems like the Veglia Gauges that were used in the later Series 3 are a lot worse about it than the earlier Smiths gauges....
Cheers
David
shop.EverydayXJ.com

 

Mine is one of the eight of ten. Bent about 45 degrees.

 

Not that this means anything but the needle on my XJ6 is not bent but was lazy. Recently, I had to replace the battery with a new one and the voltage needle now moves to 13+ immediately
upon start up. Coincidental? I also have a new alternator and wiring which was installed about a year ago but that did not help the gauge issue.

 

The gauges in my S1 all seem to have the same resistive element, they measure the same and all creep up slowly as they warm up. They are built this way. So for testing outside the car, you need to apply power during several seconds before something moves (which was confusing at first). Didnt know the needles can start getting bent and get stuck, good to know.