This is not an oscillation that occurs all the time. It is just when a load change on the alternatior occurs such as when you turn on the headlights. It will oscillated 3 or 4 times and then settle to normal operation. It appears as if any needle damping in the meter is gone. It did not always do this and the problem appeared when I disassembled the instrument cluster to clean dust out of it. I am wandering if something fell out of the meter or if I damaged it some way that I am not aware of. Also I do not want to replace the ampmeter with a voltmeter because I want to keep the gauges origional. Anyone have any ideas on what I could done to it?

Thanks,

Roger

Just went through this. Make sure you have a good ground to the instrument frame, dash frame, and voltage regulator,and clean the pins in the plug for the voltage regulator. Hope this helps.

"IF YOU'RE UNDER CONTROL, YOU AIN'T GOING FAST ENOUGH."

RE above

AMMETERS are NOT grounded. You probably washed the lube out of the bearings, or maybe there's a damping hairspring, I don't remember, that broke, etc.

Probably nothing to worry about. One thing you could check is reach up there and disconnect one wire, then temorarily wire in another meter to see if they both act up, or you MAY be able to tell by simultaneously watching a voltmeter. If the voltmeter surges up a little in time with the ammeter, then you have a regulation problem. If the voltage is pretty "even" (slow to change) while the ammeter is "fast" then you have a damping problem right in the meter

440sixpack I think your are right. It would seem I would need some sort of damping grease to restore the gauge to normal operation. Google searches only seem to bring up very costly lubes that are not available in small quantities. Anyone know of a readily available damping grease that would be suitable for gauges.

Thanks,

Roger