Bryan's 82 coupe gauges

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@cisco.com>]

Bryan,

Do the gauges show higher when your instrument lights are on?

I traced that (not on my Audi, but I hope the lesson is valuable) to a
faulty ground wire for the lights.  Turns out the instrument lights were
grounding *through the gauges*, increasing the current flow through
them.  I also had this erratically: sometimes when I'd hit a bump, the
panel lights would get brighter and the gauges would drop back to
normal, then I'd hit another bump and the lights would go dim and the
gauges would jump up 20%.  (I thought I was overheating the first time I
turned on my headlights, and while I knew the previous owner had
installed these killer Carello H4s, I didn't think they'd heat up the
air in front of the car *that* much. :-)

Seriously, go back and check all your ground connections.  The erratic
behavior sounds like a loose wire, and the reading high indicates that
you've got excess current flowing.  

Good luck,

--Scott