Tachometers, oscilloscopes and candy floss

[aliddle]

I have an Equus dwell meter and tachometer and want to use it to measure the rpm of my A160 whilst under the hood. Unfortunately, the normal way of plugging this in is at the distributer - which an A160 does not have! Can I use this 'old style' tachometer on the A160? If so where do I plug it in? What is the alternative?

I see that the local electronics shop down the road is advertising oscilloscopes.... is this a possibility? Can I use the oscilloscope to measure other signals off the sensors to the ECU? Can you get a 3rd party diagnostic tool to plug in? Would I get an analogue oscilloscope or a digital one...

 

[wireman]

With a bog std scope a test lead clipped to the outside of a HT lead will suffice as a pick up. Expect a good few volts so set the X sensitivity to the higher voltage end of its scale and reduce it untill you get a worth while display, if you dont the input of the scope could be damaged.
An analogue scope is easiest to get used to but will not record signals if recording is a requirement digital is the way to go. Digital scopes also have far superior timebase accuracy.

 

[television]

Digital scopes also have far superior timebase accuracy.

And X 10 the price

 

[aliddle]

Would it not be possible to pick up a signal from the crankshaft sensor? (or any other sensor on the engine)?

 

[star]

Would it not be possible to pick up a signal from the crankshaft sensor? (or any other sensor on the engine)?

yes it would, but whether it would give you an accurate RPM reading i do not know, you would have to convert the pulses to RPM and find out if it uses a single pulse or multi. This would be the same if you used the cam sensor and it works at 1/2 crank speed, as you no there are no ign leads, and i cant think of a way to connect to the coils. get a 2nd person to watch dash.