Dash lights and gauges out

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BrianT

BrianT

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After reading every post that I could find, I decided to tear into the dash and find out what's going on. The first night I had the car, one dash light was working and it quit on the way home. The temp gauge never got clear up into the operating range, even after a flush and new water pump and thermostat. The gas gauge worked intermittently and I checked the ground strap at the tank, everything looked fine.

When I pulled the instrument cluster today, half of the sockets that hold the dash lights were missing. The others were broken, missing one of the ears that hold them tight against the circuit board. The voltage limiter looked to be in place with no signs of anything being wrong. My plans are to replace the limiter, and all the bulbs and sockets.

I found a thread that recommended a socket from NAPA but wondered if anyone had any experience using these sockets? I don't want to buy 8 of them and then find out that they have to be rigged to fit a Dodge. I plan on changing the bulbs over to 194s.

Also, do you think the voltage limiter is what could be causing the intermittent gauge problems? I bypassed the ammeter and lubed the speedo cable while I was in there.

Here are some picts just for those who like them...

dashpics001Medium.jpg


dashpics004Medium.jpg


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those dash panles ground from the botom screews make sure there tight what i did was to add a ground wire to mine make sure the paint is not stoping it from grounding
 
I'll check that. It's an intermittent problem, so it could be anything.
 
I would clean and check the copper trace on the printed circuit board including the contact points under the hex nuts that attach the gauges.
You might find those only finger tight today. Snug them back down but dont overtighten. They are mounted in a thin piece of fiber board and it gets brittle with age.
 
Talk with Red Fish here on the forum about a solid state voltage limiter for you car. I got one from him and am happy wit it.
 
Dang you Red Fish. Posting while I'm still writting!
 
I found the correct sockets on Rockauto.com My buddy is going to get me 8 of them tomorrow at O'reilly along with the bulbs.

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I plan on just using a new Standard cluster voltage regulator also from O'reilly. This is just a weekend driver, no need to upgrade too much, is there?

The copper on the circuit board is a little tarnished. What should I use to clean this up a little?
 
I used some steel wool and cleaned it up with a little rubbing alcohol. All the nuts are snug.

I hate to put this thing back together without changing the voltage limiter or at least checking it, but I don't have a volt/ohm meter anymore. Doh! Don't loan tools to friends and then forget about them.
 
I Hda The Same Problem With My Duster--here Is My Fix Ti Works.go To Autozone And Pick Up Their 194 Led Lites. Solder A 6 Inch Peice Of 16 Ga. Wire On The Ends Of Each Bulb, Drill Two Small Holes In The Bulb Holder And Thread The Wires Into The Holes And Tie In A Knot. Run You A Hot And A Ground Wire To The Lites In Series And I Switched Mine. I Hoot Glued The Holders In The Back Of The Dash And I Have Amber Dash Lights, My Main Problem Was A Sick Circuit Board. These Lights Are Sweet To Look At And Tender On The Eyes. You Can Get Different Collor Lights To Match The Car Or Your Fancy. Good Luck.
 
BrianT said:
The mechanical limiters work. Their problem is what they can do when they go bad. A solid state regulator will just die without tryong to take anyrhing else down with it.

You dont really need to clean the copper trails. just the contact points and posts.
Click to expand...
 
So if mine did go bad (like I think) what damage could it have done? What should I look for?

I did just clean the areas where the contacts touch the copper trail. Thanks.
 
It can fry the gauges. Some have burned the copper right off of the board. A solid state regulator could fry a gauge too but only if the sender wire was shorted to ground. That would take 3 times as long to happen.
We could check your gauges and such if you had a meter.
 
Where does the regulator connect?
I have the rally dash and I remember hearing that the gas gauge has something internal as well that can burn out.
There was also someone selling a regulator here and on e-bay, I think.

Also, what do you lube the speedo cable with?
 
matthon said:
Where does the regulator connect?
I have the rally dash and I remember hearing that the gas gauge has something internal as well that can burn out.
There was also someone selling a regulator here and on e-bay, I think.

Also, what do you lube the speedo cable with?
Click to expand...

The mechanical limiter is in a seperate can ( shown top and center of the pic above ) plugs in to most of the panels but not all. On A-body rallye panels the fuel gauge is the can for the limiter. They could have put the limiter inside any gauge can since there really isn't much to one of them.
It went in the fuel gauge because all models would have that gauge but might have warning lamps for oil and water.

I pull the speedo cable out of it sheathe , clean it and lube with white lithium grease between my fingers as I'm pushing it back in. The sheathe is routed about a 90 degree turn under the drivers seat and pushing the cable back in can be a struggle especially with greasy fingers. LOL
It will go eventually.
Once the cable is fully seated where it came from you'll need to clean away the excesss from the upper end so too much grease doesn't get in the speedometer.
You could flush the sheathe with brake cleaner and compressed air but you would need to disconnect the transmission end of it first. I dont flush the sheathe and haven't found it nessesary.
 
DUSTERDOWNS said:
I Hda The Same Problem With My Duster--here Is My Fix Ti Works.go To Autozone And Pick Up Their 194 Led Lites. Solder A 6 Inch Peice Of 16 Ga. Wire On The Ends Of Each Bulb, Drill Two Small Holes In The Bulb Holder And Thread The Wires Into The Holes And Tie In A Knot. Run You A Hot And A Ground Wire To The Lites In Series And I Switched Mine. I Hoot Glued The Holders In The Back Of The Dash And I Have Amber Dash Lights, My Main Problem Was A Sick Circuit Board. These Lights Are Sweet To Look At And Tender On The Eyes. You Can Get Different Collor Lights To Match The Car Or Your Fancy. Good Luck.
Click to expand...

A study was done many years ago on dash lights, funny you should mention
the amber lights as that is what was proven to cause the least amount
of eye strain. This is why for many years the high end German cars had
amber lights. Just a cool instrument lighting tidbit.
 
Great information here. Thanks......Dusterdowns, do you happen to have any pics of what you did? Thanks....Dean
 
RedFish said:
I pull the speedo cable out of it sheathe , clean it and lube with white lithium grease between my fingers as I'm pushing it back in. The sheathe is routed about a 90 degree turn under the drivers seat and pushing the cable back in can be a struggle especially with greasy fingers. LOL
It will go eventually.
Click to expand...

I just went through this yesterday!! I lubed the cable up and was sliding it back in. Got to about the last 12 inches and it quit going in!!! I ended up chucking it up in my cordless drill and then spinning it back into place. Once I got past whatever was restricting it, it went the rest of the way by hand.

What can I do to lube the speedometer itself? Can I shoot some WD40 into the back of it? Will this leak into the front where it can be seen?
 
I've never attempted to lube the speedometer head itself.
 
My speedo was screaching up a storm and jumping. I pulled it out, turned it over, and placed a few drops of WD40 where the cable connects. Cured it and did not get on the face.
 
I checked around for a solid state regulator- no luck.
Who carries the regulator?
If I use the solid state regulator, do I need to take the mechanical limiter out of the fuel gauge?
Will the gauge still work?
And whats that tiny cylinder thing attached with 1 wire to the back of the gauges?

Sorry for all of the questions, but I replaced the sending unit/ground strap, and still no gas gauge, plus the 2 lights out on the speedo are driving me nuts!!
 
The cylinder thing is the condenser. After reading this, I'm REALLY glad I just bought a NOS voltage limiter and condenser from one of our fine members. I think that is what is possibly wrong with my lighting situation.
 
The round canister is a noise surpressor.

RedFish has the voltage limiter. He can also disable the mechanicle limiter in your gas gauge.

I had him do mine and I'm running his limiter with no issues.
 
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