Ever since I bought my Autometer 3579 air/fuel gauge via Summit, it has not worked correctly. Instead of starting the engine and having it read within seconds as the sensor warms up, the ONLY way to get it to read was to turn on the key, wait about 30 seconds for the sensor heater, THEN start the engine. (Which is exactly what the instructions tell you not to do). It would then work until key-off. With a restart and the engine hot, it wouldn't even work half the time if I waited.

Yes, I tried another expensive wideband sensor and it did the same thing exactly. The wiring and voltages are correct at the gauge terminals.

So I sent it back for repair to Autometer who signed for it on Sep. 28th. Didn't hear anything, so I just called and got "Max" on the phone. Overall he was rather rude.

He informed me that they checked it in yesterday (a full 8 days after receiving it from FedEx!) and were unable to reproduce the problem. Their solution is to sell me a brand-new replacement gauge for $122. When I protested, he repeated himself and gave me the choice of getting it back unrepaired for free. Because it's outside the 1 year warranty, he could care less.

I bent over and paid the $122 - but the next time I buy an AFR meter it will NOT be one of theirs. Now let's see if the new one works according to the manual...
YMMV.

Are you sure you wired it EXACTLY according to the instructions? Grounds are critical on wideband so if they told you to ground something to the rearview mirror, you ground it to the rearview mirror.

The only reason I ask is you is said you installed a different one that did the same thing.

I have an Innovate LC1 and the common theme in the tech forum on questions about sketchy readings all revolved around grounds attached other than instructed.

Kevin

That's a fair question... but as an EE with nearly 40 years experience, I know how to read an instruction sheet and make ground connections
I wired the entire car from a bare shell and I'm confident I got it right (and I mentioned that the voltages are correct at the gauge).
Also I did doublecheck that because it'd occurred to me too

Sorry if I wasn't clear, it was a different failure mode on the first one. It quit working entirely, period. The replacement developed the strange habit of not warming up almost immediately - and replacing the sensor didn't help. The old one's heating element was not open-circuit either.

I think there is a flaw in the design (the tech support line actually said that there could be a problem with the voltage dropping during cranking and confusing the electronics). They recommended I start the engine, then apply power to the gauge as a test. Didn't help.

Once I receive the overpriced replacement, I'll be going over the wiring yet again

Because it's outside the 1 year warranty.

What would/were you expecting them to do for you? No reason for there rep to be rude but if it was out of the warranty period im curious what they could of done to make you happy. Im also a bit confused you seem miffed it took them a little bit of time to get to it?

Was it still under warranty? Because if it was, I don't think they should be charging you anything. But if the warranty has lapsed...... .....

As far as the timelines are concerned, I don't know what the deal is with automotive performance parts companies, but most of my suppliers are still operating with drastically reduced staff due to COVID lockdowns....especially those in California. Even the best supported good I sell are having trouble delivering quick service/repair.

EDIT: I see the warranty has expired. Like the poster immediately before me, I question what you expected on an item that is out of warranty?

Yes, I knew it was out of warranty (and I should have made a claim while it was IN warranty, that's on me).
I did expect to pay for repair, but not $122 for a replacement gauge because they claimed not to be able to find or fix the problem, take it or leave it. I provided a very detailed description of the behavior and I got the impression that they didn't even read it.
That's all.

I understand your point, but you know all too well they dont make the inner workings of most there products and its unlikely they have the real tools to dig deep. Since we live in the age of toss and replace vs repair its not a shocker.

Even the last time ive had a bad batt or alt. form the local parts house they never even test them, just toss and give new.

But id be upset as well if it never worked right and even if it did puke out in just a year. I guess ive been lucky my tiny sport comp Autometer wide band has done well for almost 15 years but it does go through a short "set up" period when powered on, not sure if thats normal but it functions well after that.

Hope you get it sorted out.

Sorry to hear of the rotten luck.

If you want to try something different, I'm going to sell one of these as soon as I get a chance to pull it off the car.

I've been circle jerked by them more than once, The worst and last was a 1500.00 gauge setup that could not calibrate the speedometer. They sent replacement modules, gauges etc. nothing helped. I tried multiple pulse generators ( sine and square wave neither worked. I even had a oscilloscope hooked up and used shielded wire that was completely rerouted away from the ignition.
I asked to speak with the design engineer to sort it out and was told they contract all their design work out so that wasn't possible. I still have the box of crap parts. After Many days of frustration it suddenly began working correctly ? I do not know to this day what changed. and We were too paranoid to try backing up to identify the root cause.
To my knowledge it is still functioning fine. No more Auto Meter in my builds.

In a way they did the repair (replacement) service for an out of warranty gauge for $122 on a $300 unit. In most cases that's a deal when working on electronic components.......just me. Hope all goes well with the new unit BTW are they returning the original AFR along with the new one?

It's not $300, it was a $199 unit when I got it, now $229 (retail) according to the phone guy. And that includes the $80-something Bosch wideband sensor.

That unfortunately didn't occur to me (to ask for the old one back), but I would be surprised if they do return it.
I'll open it up and see what I can reverse-engineer.

Still don't have a gauge in hand - and Autometer just called to tell me they were back-ordered and won't be in stock until the 21st.

But the good news is, the $122 for a new gauge is for a whole new package (gauge + sensor + cable). The guy said it's basically at their cost.
So I'll have a spare sensor in hand when it ever gets here.

I just put a new 950 carb on, and would really like to watch the AFR...

A delayed follow-up.. the gauge actually came several days sooner than scheduled. Put it in, no improvement. Continued the routine of warming up the sensor before starting the car. Today I decided to pull the gauge out and test it on the bench (using the harness and sensor that came with the replacement).

First thing I noticed is that the gauge pulls significant current spikes while it's booting up (resetting the air-core meter pointer, most likely).
Then it turns on the sensor heater via a PWM circuit, and gradually draws more and more current, up to 1.5 amps (average) @ 13.5 volts to the harness, until it gets a reading and the needle swings to the 18 AFR peg as expected. Then it drops the heater current back down to about 1 amp average.

I could simulate the drop in cranking voltage (to around 10.5-11 volts) and was able to get the gauge to stay in warmup mode (as it does in the car) even after turning the power supply back up to 13+.

At this point I gave up and put a toggle switch on the dash, in the hole recently vacated by my choke pull. Interestingly, after starting the car and then powering up the gauge (as one Autometer tech support guy actually recommended) it takes longer for the sensor to work than if I just turn the key and wait. At least from a cold start. I think the initial temp of the exhaust gas stream at the bung in the header reducer must be cooler than the desired temp, until the short time for the header to warm up

Bottom line is, it's a crappy (probably offshore) design. Anything automotive should not be confused (indefinitely) by a momentary drop in voltage while cranking. It's also exacerbated by the penny-pinching wiring harness provided, with tiny 22 gauge power and ground wires (0.016 ohms per foot each). At 1.5 amps heater current, that just adds more drop. Anyway I won't buy this gauge again... but it matches my other Sport-Comp gauges so I'm stuck with it

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Bottom line is, it's a crappy (probably offshore) design.

Re read my post from above. They are running on the old management /companies reputation