Can a factory tach cause a fire? ('93 Dakota)

May sound silly, but being serious here.

The tach has never been right in my '93 Dakota. It usually read low with the occasional 1K jump.

A few weeks ago, it flat lined. Dropped to zero, no twitch, no bounce, nothing. Thought nothing about it.

Yesterday, it suddenly bounced a few times and pegged at the highest reading, staying there whether the truck was running or not.

Immediately after it happened, I smelled a sort of waxy smell, almost like something electrical over heated. Today, even though the needle never moved, the smell was stronger.

I won't be able to look at it until this weekend. In the meantime I've removed anything important I had in the truck, and made sure my insurance is up to date.........

Is there a fix for these tachs? Or, is there a way to bypass it?

Thanks.

Anything electrical can cause a fire under the right circumstances. The waxy smell you describe makes me think a capacitor or something similar is getting hot and melting down. Step 1. disconnect all leads to the tach. and see if the smell goes away.

I'm tired, so maybe I could've worded it better. Yes, any electrical can cause a fire, I was thinking in terms of it being such a low draw.

Are there any known fixes out there for the factory tach? Are replacement modules available?

Im not sure if the 93s are built similar tot he 97s, but on my 97 I had similar issues with gauges when it was getting up in age. Turns out that there is a connector that is snapped into the dash frame that receives a matching connector of the back of the gauge cluster. As the cluster is pushed into place the two connectors are supposed to join and make contact. After years if vibration the dash section seemed to have dropped out of the frame some. I ended up having to make two small plastic shims out of an old credit card to raise the connector up enough to make good contact again.

Coulda sworn there was another reply......

Anyways.......

Weather permitting, I'm going to look at it this weekend. This morning the smell was so strong I had to roll a window down, honestly surprised I didn't see smoke. But, on my way home, it suddenly flat lined again, and no more smell.



Thanks for the replies.

i made a reply,must be against the rules?,PM if you desire