Td5 tacho or AM?

[Colmoore]

Trying to source a tacho for my 06 td5 130; they are over $500!
My mech said to go genuine, as he doesn't know of any AM ones that have worked.
Anyone had success w an AM one? If so what brand/ model?
Cheers,
Col

[LouNat58]

Trying to source a tacho for my 06 td5 130; they are over $500!
My mech said to go genuine, as he doesn't know of any AM ones that have worked.
Anyone had success w an AM one? If so what brand/ model?
Cheers,
ColI believe a VDO 333-158 is an option. Haven't tried it myself.

[VladTepes]

I put a tacho on my previous Defender and it didn't take me long to realise there is absolutely no point at all in doing so. Waste of money.

[ThorneGator]

I did the same thing about 18 months ago.....you don't need a genuine.

I went with a VDO-Cockpit Vision tach. For the signal, I partially dismantled the ECU plug and tapped into Pin 19. From there, it is just adjusting the switches on the back of the gauge barrel to account for number of engine-cylinders (5 in our case[wink11]) to get the right rpm's. You'll know your on the right path when you idle at around 750rpm's.

You can do a search for this on the forum, as there has been a lot a discussion around it: https://www.aulro.com/afvb/90-110-130-defender-county/242563-will-tacho-work.html?242563=#post2607720

[weeds]

I gotta agree with Vlad......

Out of interest what is the Benefit you’re looking for or get out of having a tacho??

I cannot recall ever needing to look at a tacho in car that have them from factory.

[JoeFriend]

For the money a tacho costs, just get a nanocom and run it in instrument mode and get more info that matters.

I spend more time staring at the coolant temp on the nanocom and egt guage I have in place of the clock than I do looking at the tacho.

Only time in recent memory I was looking at the revs was winching out of a big hole, and that was just cause I was rather bored with nothing else to do besides push and hold a button and move the steering wheel.

[Colmoore]

Thanks All, I'll give the VDO one a shot and I'll check out past discussion, I hadn't seen it.
I'll look into the nano too.
I had the BAS tool w Bluetooth to iPhone on my Puma and found it very handy.
It seems one mans tacho is another mans [emoji895]
Me, I'd rather a tacho than a speedo
O&to.

[trout1105]

The only time I look at the tacho on my D2a is to see if the auto trans has locked up, Otherwise I have no use for it.

[AK83]

Sometimes a tacho can be of invaluable trouble shooting help.

While I have limited experience with TD5, and zero experience with defenders(check my sig!) .. I had a strange issue a few weeks back.

Brother and I went for a drive for a few hours looking for some interestign places to camp(recon trip) and I wanted to take him into desert country to see what sand driving was all about, he's never done it.

I let him drive most of the way up, but almost all of the way back.
I'm the type that usually checks gauges, more than not. maybe every 30 sec or so .. maximum 1 min.
I have my sensor gauge setup up in the D1/D2 type roof console.
From the passengers seat, it's the same point of view as from the driver seat.
I kept my eye on the gauges as he drove, as I knew he wouldn't.

All good.
What I couldn't see tho was the tacho.
Anyhow, after 4-5hrs of him driving, I drop him off and now it's my turn to drive myself home.
Strange thing, after a fair bit of experience, tacho is sitting nearer 2K rpm at 80k/h instead of it's usual 1750RPM ????
I'm thinking torque converter may not be locking up properly .. if that could even exist as a situation .. it locked up fine, felt fine through the accelerator pedal . felt locked.. but about 250RPM more than it should be.
Surely I haven't worn 10% of the tyre treads in 1000Klms! :p

Next day. At idle I could hear a knock in the engine. First thought was harmonic balancer coming loose AGAIN!.
Next day up early, remove balancer, key worn.
If I wasn't already in 'alert mode' due to the RPM, I may have even dismissed the harmonic balancer knock, as it was faint.
I probably wouldn't have got up early to check stuff to get keep car mobile.. it's my daily driver and my only one at the moment too.

So start pulling bit and pieces off, and while undoing stuff I noticed my hand hit the alternator pulley, and moved it weirdly.
Bloody thing was loose, as in worn loose. Pretty new alternator too. I'm thinking harmonic balancer vibration over 5hrs at 100k/h probably took out the alternator pulley with it .. AND caused the water pump to suddenly spring a leak via it's little peep hole. Car never overheats, so the pressure relief surely didn't trip.
I'm blaming the troubles I've had in keeping the harmonic balancer from coming loose.

So the extra 250RPM was the result of the loose alternator pulley(worn off it's shaft) .. I didn't pull it apart, but I reckon the pulley wore off the shaft tho .. not sure.
But had I not noticed the higher RPM AND the knock, I could have just dismissed it as something to check at some point, rather than as a matter of urgency.

Moral of the story .. 'ya never know!

In saying that tho, I reckon tacho is my least looked at gauge too.
Main reason I look at it actually, is when I'm trying to trace/stop/locate those annoying vibrations and rattles that the rough little Tdi causes.
I have two at the moment, dash rattle came back at 1750RPM, and now the empty passengers seat vibrates at 2050RPM.
So I keep an eye on the tacho a bit more than normal just for now .. until I fix those two rattles up for good! :bat:
At least I know which two engine speeds to avoid till that gets done