Hi guys!

Near disaster: had a 3 gauge set of Autogauge by AutoMeter installed in my truck for extra monitoring of water temp, oil pressure & voltage. Got them used from a buddy and temp and oil failed and had to be replaced within 1 month. He only used them in the drag car for a dozen or so passes!

The other day I drove into town and suddenly clouds of thick black smoke pouring out from under dash! Got all electricity shut down after popping the hood and yanking loose all the quick release battery connections.

Turns out this Autogage piece of junk is so poorly made that the meter movement inside gauge case slipped over and shorted out hot lead to the gauge case and to the ground. Those burning hot wires then sliced through both nylon lines to both oil pressure gauges to spray oil all over the glowing hot wires and the carpet. Just about lost the whole truck!

I later dis-assembeld the gauge and it's 100% junk! The only thing preventing shorting out is a couple of little plastic nibs on the electrical connection screws, about .030" thick, that are supposed to have an interference fit in the .025" thick case! One of the screws, the hot terminal, was cast in off-center and the insulator was also off center, easily visible when inspected. ZERO QUALITY CONTROL ON THIS GAUGE!

The whole design of the gauge is a nightmare of just asking for serious trouble. 100% junk, junk, junk, designed by a simpering idiot, an electrical moron. A word to the wise: caveat emptor, as in 'let the buyer beware'. Any company that would sell garbage like this to unwitting buyers is a company to stay away from. So sue me Autometer! I've got the melted evidence and LOTS OF PHOTOS....!

 

.... not made in the USA, eh? or???? details on model numbers would be appreciated!

 

Do you mind posting some of the pics?

Good thing you caught it early, I bet those quick release battery connections saved your truck .

 

The model number is Autogage #2319, the 2 3/8" gauge. I don't think they're made in USA and I threw away the boxes on the other 2 replacements I had to buy. I can't post pics this morning as I have an appointment but I'll try to post later. It's hard to give a clear picture representation that's visible on the net because the main problem part is black plastic. The design would barely be acceptable for a temp or pressure gauge, but for a Voltage gauge it is horrendous, and clearly dangerous.

 

I posted pics at the link, and did a sort of spoof of an investigative/expose' report, tongue in cheek on that. The facts of these gauges aren't funny at all!

http://www.powerwagonadvertiser.com/...ight=Autometer

 

that stinks.
but there is a reason the manufactures require you to install fluid isolators, to prevent flammable fluids in the cab.
that being said, i dont have one and run diesel right to the dash......

 

All the autometer guages I have EVER put in said to install a 3amp fuse! Where was yours? That would have prevented the whole ordeal. It pays to read the instructions, and to follow them! I've put Autometer guages in tons of vehicles, trucks, race cars and never had one iota of trouble. They are the highest in my book as far as mechanical guages go.

 

Also circuit breakers are a bad idea. They allow a bad situation to get worse if they are the automatic resetting kind. Just keeps putting power to a shorted circuit until it is hot enough to start things smoking! I read your post on the other site, and it sounds like you did a good job of installing, but ANY hot wire should be fused as close to its originating point as possible.

 

I think the whole key here is the Autogauge lineup, they aren't what you would call top of the line Autometer stuff.

I've never bought a set of Autogauges, and have never had issues with Autometers mainline gauges.

 

I've never used the cheapo autogage stuff, nor have I considered it.

My Autometer guages (main line brand, ultra-light and NV series) have performed very well.

When my pyro failed, autometer not only replaced it for free (not obliged by warranty) but they UPGPPRADED by gauge to a newer NV series.


I was floored by their customer service, even if not by their actual gauges (which I do like very much).

 

I have ran nothing but autometer for the last 20 years, and I have only broke 1 gauge and that was because the motor made almost 100 psi oil pressure at 5000 rpms and I only had an 80 psi gauge installed. With that being said, I have the IssPro gauges in my truck now, and the trans gauge is shot already.

 

Okay, thanks for feedback. The whole point of the post was NOT to trash Autometer's reputation, but to warn you that this line of gauges was 100% junk, which it is.

Upon very close inspection of this gauge it was found to be improperly designed so as to cause a high likelihood of failure. The gauge terminals are cast into the plastic meter movement body. The fact that the sole and only fasteners for the gauge's assembly are the + and - terminals is a second serious problem. In addition the alignment of meter movement and those same pos. & neg. terminals is maintained by a plastic isolator approximately .030" thick, fitting through a thin steel gauge body approximately 0.25" thick. The insulation between terminals and case consists of those short plastic nibs, and a thin plastic or cardboard gasket, then a flat washer and nut are fastened.

Very poor quality control allowed a meter movement to pass inspection despite the fact that the hot terminal was cast in off-center, out of alignment, bringing it closer to the edge of metal case body terminal hole on one side. This was seen to be the case by the impressions the flat washers had made in the plastic isolator gasket.

Because of a very poor basic design the meter movement was not self-centering in the case. Had they stamped in a much deeper barrel shaped recess for the cast plastic parts that retain meter terminals then there would be a safe method of maintaining lateral alignment. They chose instead to rely on a thin cast plastic nib about the thickness of a matchbook as the sole lateral insulation and alignment of terminal studs. That can hardly be called acceptable engineering for an instrument in an environment prone to shaking, vibrations and stresses and all in the presence of volatile fuels and gases.

Considering that the company's 'Quality Control' let a an item get a QC stamp even though it was not even up to their pathetic design standards is real bad. That they would also employ assemblers who would go ahead and assemble an obviously sub-standard and potentially dangerous gauge [the misaligned casting-in of terminal screw] does not inspire confidence. It seems that this same assembler also failed to even insure that the nuts on terminal studs were tight enough to hold the gauge together!

The sum total of these inadequacies and very poor quality and non-existent quality control almost burned my truck down to the rims. I posted to warn folks, but to each his own. Buy what you like, but if it's an Autogage #2319 be sure your onboard fire extinguisher is all charged up.

 

Might wanna rethink that choice of words. Any guess on what the the #1 choice for gauges in any go fast rig might be? I don't think AutoMeter got to where they are buy selling junk. Sure a bad idea by some bozo engineer/design group might cast a dark spot on a company but when has some thing like this NOT happened?

 

"Considering that the company's 'Quality Control' let a an item get a QC stamp even though it was not even up to their pathetic design standards is real bad."

What's there to rethink? They came up with a pathetic and sorry design that is not safe. Re-read the part I posted about the thickness of the platic nibs that fit into the gauge's steel case. There's only a few thousandth's of an inch of plastic to keep the whole gauge from shorting out, and no other design factor to prevent sideways movements of terminals, none! That's a pathetic design, regardless of whatever else they build. It's not even junk engineering, because an accredited engineer would never come up with a design that's so bogus. Maybe their other stuff is the greatest thing since invention of the wheel, but the #2319 gauge design stinks.

The gauge had a QC stamp even though it was not made or assembled according to their own lousy design. It got a QC stamp even though it should have been rejected or reworked. That's pathetic to me. Maybe it isn't to you, so to each his own.

 

I can understand JimmieD's frustrations, I think it is not so much that he is saying Autometer is junk, but that they would lend their name, even in a reduced value line to a product that you could still buy far, far cheaper without the Autometer name.

Kind of like Autometer pimping their name for a few extra $$$.