Corvette ED

I am working on a 1986 and the speedometer/tach cluster sometimes lights up and sometimes it go completely dark?

Any ideas what to look for?

corvetteronw

www.batee.com

xrav22

Mine did that I did not have to be without it by soldering(retinning)
the back of the power connectors. Use glasses or a mag glass and drop a drip of solder on each backside of prongs(other side of board). Worked for me but u need to use solder containing a portion of lead(at least 40lead). I found some more info goggling it.
Back of prongs visible after removing board .


Prongs are upper right.

hcbph

I had mine go dark a couple of times then come back. Last time it went dark both turn signal lights came on, everything else was dark. Using a light from the front, i could see the cluster was working but not illuminating.
I sent it to Bryan at Batee for repairs. Turned out the connector between the 2 boards was heat damaged. Had Bryan replace that along with changing the bulbs out to Xenon's. It's worked great with only 1 hiccup. One of the bulbs accessible from the front went dark again. Turned out the bulb contacts weren't making a good contact with the socket so with a little bending on the bulb contacts and all has been good since.
I recommend Batee highly, you won't be sorry.

ghoastrider1

Corvette Ron gave a good response with good advice. I sent my 86 cluster to Batee to be repaired after I screwed up my repair job. Fair priced, darn good work and good customer service, fairly qick turn around time. Many,many in here feel the same. BTW, welcome to the c04 section.

avcwo

Batee.com

THE place to go. He upgraded one of my clusters to LED...WOW

CREWZIN

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...l-display.html



All back together again....Thanks Bryan at www.batee.com

gerardvg

Had that happen to my 85 after driving on some corrugated dirt roads, replaced the connector kit and that fixed the problem.

Sometimes a bad engine to frame ground can also cause the back lights to play up.

See link to the connector kit, i got mine from batee but i cant find any on ebay today....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/84-89-C4-Cor...YAAOSw7aBVBvNT

Cliff Harris

Look at the connectors that connect the two PC boards together. The pins on the ends (power and ground) tend to get hot and crystalize the solder. In extreme cases the PC board will be burned around those pins. Resolder those pins and that should fix the problem.

JrRifleCoach

Ya know CLiff, I wonder how many of these noobs can use a soldering iron.
Or know what one is....

xrav22

I don't think a noob he has 6000 posts anyways how hard is it heat up the iron , touch the iron to melt the joint , drip a drop onto the joint, Good luck, Also if you have some sections missing or not lit up , you will probably need new zebra connectors they are the little pink things. The new ones will contact and give you power to all sections.

JrRifleCoach

You assumed I was referring to the OP. Read clearly, then respond.

xrav22

I thought you meant all above. Missed the boat.

bxtech

Remove the metal access cover for one of the instrument cluster Halogen bulbs. Run a small wire (like 16ga) from ground, and touch the ground side of the bulb of which you removed the access plate. The cluster should light up and verifies that you have a ground issue. I've done this test on two cars I've owned in the past, and both had the same issue.

Corvette ED

Thanks for all the responses

CREWZIN

Originally Posted by JrRifleCoach View Post
Ya know CLiff, I wonder how many of these noobs can use a soldering iron.
Or know what one is....



Found this in a search....

Can I use a clothes iron as a soldering iron?
I'm trying to make a battery pack for my camcorder. Doing so requires a soldering iron. Could I use an iron that I iron my clothes with to do this or would I have to buy a soldering iron?
Thanks.

1 following 7 answers

Best Answer: That would be outrageously unsafe. Shoot the lock of your wallet and get a proper soldering iron.

You'll get solder on your flat iron. Plus I don't know if it gets hot enough. Just spend the $5, sounds like you may need it again in the future.

Besides messing up your Clothes Iron it wouldn't get hot enough any way, just buy a cheap iron almost any hardware or auto parts store.

They are 2 totally different things so the answer is NO.

===========================

So don't take anything for granted.

joelmatchpoint

Has the same problem on my '86. Took the cluster out and apart and resoldered all the pins connecting the two boards. Then tested continuity using ohmmeter from the pins on the connector that plugs into the cluster that are supposed to go to ground- tested them to a good known ground near the cluster- in my case the chassis of my audio head unit. Found that one of the pins wasn't going to ground so I spliced a wire into it and grounded it to the chassis of my head unit. Problem solved. I also replaced the cluster bulbs with LEDs. Took me a while to find some that were bright enough for daytime but glad I did- no more super hot bulbs to damage the cluster's printed circuit board.