Casper Knock Gauge

[TTA1326]

I've had one of these on my car for 5 years and now it's gone nuts (I think it's my car, not the gauge.) I had to pull my pillar gauge pod down to put in the LEDs for Razor's alcohol kit. While I was in there, I rewired the gauge because it has always had an annoying problem.

It would work perfectly for weeks or even months, but then go nuts on a day when I needed it. I would start the car and the gauge would jump to a random light and stay there. It would not turn on the green "ready" light. I finally discovered that I could wiggle the gauge slightly and the ready light would come on (Or I could restart the car). I figured I had a wiring problem, but it wasn't frequent enough to worry with.

So, yesterday I completely rewired the sucker using the original instructions. I bought brand new, good quality 16 gauge wire, and I was very careful. I got the same connectors for the gauge end, ran the wires to the same locations, and even re-soldered the ECM connection. Apparently, that was too careful. Now it jumps to a random light and stays there every single time I start the car.

Wiggling it doesn't do anything now, so I took the retainer off the back where I could play with it. I can unplug the power, ground, or signal wire to the ECM for just a second, then plug it back up and it works perfectly. Any one of those wires will fix it, but I have to do this every time I start the car. I finally put the retainer back in and I'm reaching into the fuse box to pull and replace the spade going into one of the IGN slots. It works normally until I cut the car off again.

Anybody seen this or have some idea what to check? I'm going to call Casper's tomorrow, but I wanted to start here first.

 

["Turbo-T"]

I think the Casper knock gauges are notorious for being finicky. Mine never has worked right since the day I received it.

I have the same issue....when I start the car the lights jump from the standby light to usually one of the greens or yellows, sometimes a red.

Then my gauge has also been known to display false knock readings when the scanmaster showed zero.

Also another thing that's always been a problem...is when one or more of the lights come on the gauge does not automatically reset itself.

I just ended up wiring in a momentary kill switch for it that breaks the ground. That way I can reset it anytime I want to.

You could send it back but you will probably get another hit or miss unit, so the call is up to you.

 

[Quiky One]

Yep, this is a common problem with a very easy fix. Wire in a power switch so you can turn it on and off at will. This way, when the gauge sticks to a light you can just turn it on and off and it will reset itself.

My TTA's gauge had this same problem. All is well now.

Jason

 

[JSTTA]

Mine Does The Same Thing, I Dont Look At It Now , Just Watch The Scanmaster!

 

[2QUIK6]

Mine in the GN only sticks upon startup...has worked flawlessly after resetting on startup for years. Once I reset with the momentary switch, I've never had it "stick" when detecting knock.
I put on in the TTA and it worked fine without having a switch to reset it....go figure. John even sent me another gauge for the GN and it did exactly the same thing so I think it must be car related or something.