My tach stopped working, then I noticed a little whiff of smoke coming from behind the gauge bezel, so I think I should remove it and look for shorts and/or replace it.
but in the meantime I need to break in an engine rebuild, will it run OK without the cluster?

I've had cars in the past that need the cluster to complete the alternator circuit.

 

it will run, I don't think its a smart idea though, especially while breaking in a rebuild. Do you have some sort of aftermarket temp gauge?

 

It will run without the cluster, but not all functions will work correctly (like power steering; if you have a S4 with power steering or a S5 turbo).

 

Nope, no power steering, there's just a short back there, and my roommate's car broke down, so I need the rx to be running in short order. Maybe I can just pull the plug to the tach or fix the short..
Maybe I'm over reacting and there's nothing wrong. But when I started the car today the tach revved up, then just dropped to zero and the car kept running, when I came back I saw the smoke when trying tos tart it again later.
Haven't had time to test the trailing coil yet.

 

well whenever the genie escapes (smoke) that is a bad thing.

 

I have an S4 N/a guage cluster for sale if you just need something to run the thing.


smoke=genie


Santiago