Re: Vacuum Advance Datapoint

[Wolff <quattro200@earthlink.net>]

There is supposed to be an upshift indicator on 4000's of the '84 to 86
vintage. (Possibly others, but I have owned these vintages so I know
they had it.) Basically it's a small yellow "up arrow" in the center of
the dashboard. The light is supposed to suggest when to upshift for
maximum fuel economy. It is operated off a pressure switch "T"d into the
vacuum line only inches from the distributer vacuum advance diaphram. If
the distributer vacuum advance gets a hole in the diaphram, which is how
they can fail, then the upshift light will no longer light up. 
    In my case, the light never worked in the car from the day I
purchased it used, so I wasn't even aware that it had one. Phil posted
something about a car that he got from Roger? like that and aparently
the advance had been out for 8 years. Mine was out for 3 years on my
4kq. 
    Funny thing is, we sold my wife's '84 4ks LTD which we had owned
since '87 to a friend's mom. I started thinking about it and I couldn't
recall seeing the upshift light for years. I saw my friend and told him
his mom's car needed a new vacuum advance. He was impressed with my
telepathic automobile diagnostic capabilities. 
   I got the advance diaphram from The Parts Connection for about $16. I
put it in easily enough after I realized that you do not have to remove
the advance plate to get the new unit hooked on. I had assumed there was
an E clip on the underneath side holding the pull arm on, but it was
just a press fit. You can therefore just push the new one on from
underneath. I offer this to anyone for whom it is not obvious. (I think
that is much more polite than mouthing off about peoples IQ Phil.)
HTH,
Wolff
P.S. If your upshift light does not work, you don't necessarily have a
bad advance. It's possible that someone has found the light annoying and
either removed it or disconnected the plug near the distributer.

Chris Weathers wrote:
> 
> Wolff,
> 
> What made you decide to replace the vacuum advance?  What was the cost and
> from whom did you purchase it?
> 
> Chris Weathers
> cweathers@jps.net
> '87 4Kcsq
>