Tach stuck at 3500 RPM

[eddingsj]

I recently purchased a 1992 Ranger w/ 2.3L engine. The tachometer is stuck at 3500 RPM when running and will move above that when driving, but not below at idle or lower rpms.

Can anyone point me in the direction for this problem?

Thanks - Jeff

[locovaca]

Either the tach is broken completely, or the needle was pulled off and never put back on correctly. You can try pulling the needle and sticking it on at idle, if you can figure out what the RPM is via some other way.

[marcy]

Does it go back to 0 rpm when you turn the engine off?

Mine has done that (including going back to 0) for a while and it is not a badly positioned needle. When the weather is dry enough, sometimes the tach starts working again. I am planning to work on it soon, so I'll let you know what I find out.

[Doom's Day Custom]

i just fix that problem on a chevelle and the problems was that the needle was pushed in and the screw was catching the needle and not letting it go past a certain point so would check your needle is that not doing the same thing !!!!!!

[marcy]

eddingsj,

I finally had time to look into it and I fixed my tach. All I had to do was remove the tach from the cluster and tighten the nuts that secure the circuit board to the rest of the assembly.
Because I was afraid of overtightening and breaking the board, I made a few attempts. In my case, I didn't need to start the engine to check if the tach was working: what I would do is I would turn the ignition key to the first position -- the one before the cranking position. With the key in that position, when my tach was working the rpm needle used to go up *very* slightly and then be pulled down to 0rpm right away. When my tach wasn't working, instead, the needle would go up to about 250rpm and stay there until I cranked the engine.

To locate the nuts, take a look at the picture I uploaded at http://tinypic.com/r/2ceg48w/6. I highlighted them in red.

Hope it helps.