It has been very cold in the mornings these past few weeks
(-10 to -20 Fahrenheit) and my car has several issues. Im not sure if there is
a way to fix all the issues but here is the list

 

#1 The tachometer does not work when it is cold. It will
just stay at zero rpms even when the car is on. It will eventually "wake
up", but it usually takes a little bit. is there something in the
electrical system that I could tweak in order to prevent this?

  #2 The high idle will not kick on. I think the choke is messed up but I am afraid of messing it up more by
trying to fix it. If someone had a diagram or video of how to adjust the
electric choke on these Hitachis that would help a bunch.

 

#3 Next, my ignition gets stuck sometimes, and I was
wondering if it would hurt it to spray some WD-40 in it to keep it from
freezing up (we use it a lot around here to keep our car and house doors from
freezing, but im a little hesitant to use it on a car ignition.)

 

#4 The last problem I am certain there is nothing that can
be done so I am more of curious as to how it happens. When my tranny is cold my
MPH gauge will flip out and make this horrible metal-grinding sound and it will
tell me im going 65 or 70mph when I am only going 20mph. Does anybody know why
this happens? it will eventually stop when my tranny lube warms up and I can shift easier

 

I’m sure a lot of these issues could be resolved if my block
heater worked, and I am currently trying to get it fixed but is there any way
to fix all of this annoying crap so I don’t have to put up with it until I can
get my block heater replaced?

Thanks All!

1) This is the tach head itself. It has to do with the temp of the actual control windings. Nothing you can do there. It MIGHT be a lube issue on the needle shaft, but I doubt it. You could tear the cluster out and apart and try some silicone lube.

 

2) Did the high idle used to work? If it did, remove the air filter housing and use some green CRC brake clean on all the external linkages. Let them dry off and then spray the down with PB Blaster the work then all by hand.

 

3) Use a silicone based lube in your ignition cylinder. Water or petroleum based lubes can mess with the electrical portion.

 

4) There are a few things I can think of here. A) Your gear inside the tranny is warm and when it's cold, there's too much resistance in the cable for it to turn the gear on the cable. I've had this happen. Only fix ix to open the tranny. The speedo cable is worn out or dry. Remove it from the tranny and the cluster and lube the living spoob out of it with PB Blaster while spinning it with a drill. C) The speedo head is gummed up. Tear the cluster out and apart and lube it with a silicone based lube. NEVER use a petroleum based lube on a speedo head! Almost all of them are to heavy and will affect how it reads and/or will damage the bushing the shaft rides in. IIRC, they use a very light mineral oil for assembly.

The stiff shifting when cold might be fixed by using Amsoil synthetic gear lube in the transmission.  It worked in my 1976 and 1978 wagons.  Huge difference.

1) This is the tach head itself. It has to do with the temp of the actual control windings. Nothing you can do there. It MIGHT be a lube issue on the needle shaft, but I doubt it. You could tear the cluster out and apart and try some silicone lube.

 

2) Did the high idle used to work? If it did, remove the air filter housing and use some green CRC brake clean on all the external linkages. Let them dry off and then spray the down with PB Blaster the work then all by hand.

 

3) Use a silicone based lube in your ignition cylinder. Water or petroleum based lubes can mess with the electrical portion.

 

4) There are a few things I can think of here. A) Your gear inside the tranny is warm and when it's cold, there's too much resistance in the cable for it to turn the gear on the cable. I've had this happen. Only fix ix to open the tranny. The speedo cable is worn out or dry. Remove it from the tranny and the cluster and lube the living spoob out of it with PB Blaster while spinning it with a drill. C) The speedo head is gummed up. Tear the cluster out and apart and lube it with a silicone based lube. NEVER use a petroleum based lube on a speedo head! Almost all of them are to heavy and will affect how it reads and/or will damage the bushing the shaft rides in. IIRC, they use a very light mineral oil for assembly.

Okay, thanks for the tips. it has warmed up to above 20 degrees so thankfully these cold weather problems are finally dissipating 

had the same problems in my 84 gl. problems went away when warmed up.