I spent the better part of today undoing some of the shoddy workmanship of the previous owner of my 88 Formula. So I have a couple of questions:

1) When I turn on the parking lights, the left turn signal indicator comes on the dash solid, though the turn signals work correctly. Any ideas?

2) The tach seems to read about twice what the car is doing, ie reads about 2000 at idle and hits redline way before the engine is even revving high at all. Why?

3) The horn doesn't work. When I press either of the paddles I can hear a click under the dash but the horns don't sound. What might this be?

4) There is a connector hanging down under the dash and I'm not sure what it is. Anyone know what goes in it?



Thanks so much. If anyone knows even one of these, please could someone give me a clue?

------------------
Rick Stewart
Silver Spring, MD USA
Yellow 88 Formula

Common advice for electrical lighting issues: check all the bulb connections and ground connections. Tedious, but frequently successful.

There's only one horn on factory stock Formulas. If you have a meter or test light and a helper, see if there's power at the (driver's side front) horn when the button is pressed.
If there is, try turning the screw that's sticking out of the horn housing a turn either way. I've gotten a few horns working that way.
Despite my ownership preference for stock Fieros, I added a low tone horn from an '87 Fiero to my Formula to get a 'real' horn.
The holes are there on the passenger side; all you need is to run a wire from the driver's side horn.

[This message has been edited by David Hambleton (edited 10-20-2018).]

Thanks David, I'll give that a try in the morning.

I think that connector may be for the rear deck lid release relay. It may have a black wire with a white tracker that goes to the deck release mechanism on the deck lid lock. Another wire may go from the connector to the deck release switch on the dash. That wire may be grey and black.

The way GM wired the directional lights for a long time results in a continuous indicator light in the dash if one of the turn signal lights fails. You could be looking at a burnt out bulb, or just a bad connection at the bulb. Turn on your four way flashers and walk around the car. If the bad light doesn't become obvious, turn on your parking lights and do it again.

The tach boards of our Fiero's have a resistor chip in them that goes bad, increasing resistance and causing the tach to read high. You can take the tach apart alter the board and add a variable resistor that allows you to adjust the tach's output.

http://www.fieros.de/en/articles/tach.html

Otherwise, you can also purchase a new board to replace your existing tach board. I sell new replacement boards that allow for adjustment of the tach. Included on the board is a calibration circuit that allows you to accurately set that adjustable resistor.

$49 for an adjustable tach
$79 for an adjustable tach that includes the calibration circuit.
$89 for an adjustable tach that includes the calibration circuit AND a low fuel indicator light.

If you have an 84 tach with the voltmeter as part of the tach, only the second two options apply. I am currently dealing with an error with the voltmeter tach option and shipping will be temporarily delayed if you need it. No problems if you have an 85+ tach that has the oil pressure gauge, or the GT tach that does not have any additional gauge on the tach face.

http://www.reddevilriver.com/Tachometers.html

Daryl M- I think you figured it out. My car doesn't have the decklid release switch on the dash pod so that connector wouldn't be used.

phonedawgz- Ahh yes, this makes sense about the tach. I think I remember reading about this many moons ago. And I'll definitely pick up one of your boards with the low fuel light feature. How does the board display a light on the dash? IOW,where does the light illuminate?

And also phonedawgz you're probably right about the left indicator light being on- I went out and looked and my front left side marker light is out as well as my front left parking light. SMDH- It's been a while since I've done any of this troubleshooting but I always thought that the indicator stayed on when you turn on the turn signal and you have a lamp out. I don't think I've ever seen the indicator light stay on when the parking lights are on. Live and learn. Thanks!

-Rick

[This message has been edited by TheLateGreat88 (edited 10-21-2018).]

I went outside to change the two bulbs that appeared to be out and this is what I found attached to the side marker light socket:



It felt like the wire was pinched on something metal when I pulled it out.

The wiring on my GT turns looked like that. I spliced in new wire after cutting the old stuff back.

How did you access the wires? Did you remove the wheel well liner or pull the fascia down a bit? Something else?