Instrument Cluster Question

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ValiantBandit

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Hey guys,
I've had my 1976 Plymouth Valiant for over a year now as my daily driver and love it. Today I finally decided to address the faulty speedometer and I removed the cluster. However I can't get the cluster apart because it's being caught up on the wiper and headlight relay and I REALLY don't wan't to force it open. Is there an easy way to take this apart? I really wanted to get it done today so I could go to Lake Mead with the wife! TIAV! (Thanks In Advance..lol)

xEricx :happy9:
 
Those switches have bezel nuts behind their knobs holding them in.
The knob on the wiper switch should pull right off. The knob on the headlight switch is affixed to the stem. Pull the switch full on, push the release button to remove the stem.
 
Like Red says......

attachment.php


mump_1106_head_08+replace_a_headlight_switch+.JPG.jpg
 
Sweet thanks guys....

Of course nothing is EVER easy on my car and upon re-installing the cluster inside of the car, the Las Vegas wind decided to randomly become gusty and blow the positive battery wire back onto the battery which resulted in me having the living crap electrocuted out of me due in part to the headlight switch wires. :mumum:

Now of course the headlights don't work and before I just throw parts at the problem and get a new headlight switch, I did some electrical testing and got this:

The thick black wire is getting 12.6 Volts.
The Red wire is getting -12.7 and 12.7 when I switch the red volt meter wire to the ground and the black volt meter wire to the Red instrument cluster wire.

The Little Black Wire with black and yellow stripe is getting 0 volts.
The Tan Wire is getting 0 volts.
And last but not least, the Yellow wire is getting 0 Volts.

What the frak did I do to my car? I'm ASSUMING that I'm getting current to the switch and just need to replace the switch, but I've been wrong before...Ugh I hate working on my car out here in Vegas...:angry6:
 
Most of those wires dont get power until the headlight switch is turned on. Lets assume for now the switch is the only problem.
p.s. Must have been one heck of a breeze to move a battery cable.
In the future always set the negative cable off and drop it below the surface of the battery.
 
RedFish said:
Most of those wires dont get power until the headlight switch is turned on. Lets assume for now the switch is the only problem.
p.s. Must have been one heck of a breeze to move a battery cable.
In the future always set the negative cable off and drop it below the surface of the battery.
Click to expand...


So it was 2:36AM Tuesday morning. My back's spasming along with a 2" long cut that's about 1" deep on my index finger and I have electrocution marks on my chin because I electrocuted myself on my car earlier today.
Since it's so nice out and there's no sun or wind , I decided to fix my headlights. I slapped the headlight switch in and 2 minutes later the headlights were working. I guess my car wanted to extract her revenge on me for trying to sell her...
I finally fixed that damned speedometer.

One lovely problem now - the tail lights, license plate lights, parking lights and instrument cluster lights are not working now. The tail,license and parking lights work when I click the switch to the parking light option. Could it still be the fuse? It's 3:15 AM and I really don't want to contort myself underneath that dash to look..:wack:


 
First you say they aren't working, then they do when you turn them on. Sounds good to me LOL
There is one fuse in the panel that doesn't have power on either end of it until the headlight switch is pulled at least one click. Then it should have power at both ends. It may be blown.
 
The electrocution part sucks. Been there and done that. Because I don't look good wearing an afro, I learned the hard way to isolate the disconnected battery cables by putting the end into a plastic bag or two or more.
 
RedFish said:
First you say they aren't working, then they do when you turn them on. Sounds good to me LOL
There is one fuse in the panel that doesn't have power on either end of it until the headlight switch is pulled at least one click. Then it should have power at both ends. It may be blown.
Click to expand...

Oh it was beautiful until I realized the tail lights weren't working worth a damn.
It had 5 volts on both ends. I replaced the fuse with a 30 Amp fuse. I know it's supposed to be 20 Amps, will it not work without a 20 Amp fuse??
 
Yeah I even put in a 20 Amp fuse today....still nothing...Could the headlight switch be wired wrong? I can't seem to find an adequate enough diagram of what wires go where on the headlight switch.
 
What have you got for a manual? Is the switch the same for a 72, fer 'xample?
 
OK, I'd bet money that switch has been the same for years. Download the 72 service manual from here, which is the newest we have posted I believe

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=132309&highlight=manual,+download

What you want is on page 8-151. Here's a shot of the layout of the switch:

Notice the letters next to the terminals:

mmpobt.jpg



From left to right on the top,

P nothing hooked to it. This is because on the later cars, the park and tail hook to the same terminal so that the park always stay on. The P terminal was used on the older cars where you turned on the headlights, the park went off

B2 This is power coming IN from the tail fuse, and powers the tail/ park lights

D is the terminal that grounds when you want the dome lights to come on, and twist the knob all the way to the left.

Below, left:

B1 IS NOT FUSED. This is power coming IN for the main headlight circuit, if you go to the diagram page, follow it down, it goes to the big "in harness splice" which comes from the ammeter circuit. The headlight switch has a breaker built into the switch which takes the place of a fuse

R meant Rear when you had the Park and tail separate. On the newer cars it feeds both tail and park

H is obviously power going OUT to the dimmer switch, where it is split from hi to lo beam


INST is the power OUT to the fuse box (weird) and ONLY goes through the inst fuse and then off to the dimmer fed instrument lamps.
 
Awesome info 67 Dart, I really appreciate it! Of course I don't have a freakin free day off until next Saturday....Ughhh I'm gonna have to brave the 110 degree heat one of these days this week and take this info and fix this!!
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67Dart273 said:
OK, I'd bet money that switch has been the same for years. Download the 72 service manual from here, which is the newest we have posted I believe

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=132309&highlight=manual,+download

What you want is on page 8-151. Here's a shot of the layout of the switch:

Notice the letters next to the terminals:

mmpobt.jpg



From left to right on the top,

P nothing hooked to it. This is because on the later cars, the park and tail hook to the same terminal so that the park always stay on. The P terminal was used on the older cars where you turned on the headlights, the park went off

B2 This is power coming IN from the tail fuse, and powers the tail/ park lights

D is the terminal that grounds when you want the dome lights to come on, and twist the knob all the way to the left.

Below, left:

B1 IS NOT FUSED. This is power coming IN for the main headlight circuit, if you go to the diagram page, follow it down, it goes to the big "in harness splice" which comes from the ammeter circuit. The headlight switch has a breaker built into the switch which takes the place of a fuse

R meant Rear when you had the Park and tail separate. On the newer cars it feeds both tail and park

H is obviously power going OUT to the dimmer switch, where it is split from hi to lo beam


INST is the power OUT to the fuse box (weird) and ONLY goes through the inst fuse and then off to the dimmer fed instrument lamps.
Click to expand...


WOW I'm an idiot...I had the Pink wire on P and I left B2 open. It literally took me 5 minutes to get the tail lights working! Can you believe that? I told my wife that I'm lucky I electrocuted myself on this car and not hers because I surely would've destroyed something electrical that would've cost A LOT of money...

Thanks a lot man you really helped!
 
67Dart273 said:
Great!! Glad ya found it.
Click to expand...


Eh one problem...The instrument cluster lights don't work and I know I have the right wire plugged into the switch.


See with this car, nothing is easy - it's always a damned project to do anything...lol

I'm assuming I should trace the Voltage 1st to make sure it's reaching the cluster as the fuse is obviously good since my tail lights work and it's on the same fuse.
 
slantsixdan said:
If the cluster is still hanging loose from the dash, the bulbs won't light up -- they, along with the rest of the cluster, get their ground via the mounting screws.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Dan, I appreciate it! The cluster is nicely secured in there...The thing is the previous owner kept the instrument cluster together with (Get this.) hot glue from a gluestick because he snapped off all the plastic connectors on the back of the instrument cluster lol... So I pitched a fit, assessed the situation, and used gorilla glue to keep the cluster together...But I didn't use a whole lot just in case something ever happened...I had a feeling that those little 1/4" bolts that wouldn't keep the cluster together anymore because of the broken plastic connectors served more of a purpose than just holding the instrument cluster together.

It was simply amazing - I mean you don't have to tighten down those bolts like it's a torque converter bolt........But they managed to snap every piece of plastic connector that those 1/4" bolts in the back connect to the metal part of the cluster to the plastic part...Oyie I hope that made sense?

On a good note, the speedometer works perfectly...No more "ting-ting-ting" coming from the cluster or guessing what speed I'm going..lol
 
Remember, the instrument fuse is the "oddball" in the fuse panel. All other fuses get their power either from the "hot" buss or from the accessory contact on the ign switch, but the "instrument" fuse gets it's power coming FROM the headlight switch, and of course ONLY if the dimmer is turned "up"

So make sure your dimmer is "to the left" and with the park lights one, check both sides of that fuse for power.
 
67Dart273 said:
Remember, the instrument fuse is the "oddball" in the fuse panel. All other fuses get their power either from the "hot" buss or from the accessory contact on the ign switch, but the "instrument" fuse gets it's power coming FROM the headlight switch, and of course ONLY if the dimmer is turned "up"

So make sure your dimmer is "to the left" and with the park lights one, check both sides of that fuse for power.
Click to expand...


The fuse is A-OK and the dimmer is all the way to the left..Wtf is wrong with this thing?!?!:angry1:
 
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