Help needed for my 1992 C4 convertible!!!

I just bought my first Vette 3 month ago in Florida, and just last Thursday I finally had the pleasure to roll it out of the container in Copenhagen, Denmark, Scandinavia!! My major problem is the speedometer/odometer/fuel gauge showing either nothing, all digits/symbols at the same time or half digits/symbols????? Does anyone have a clue to this?? I read that the radio is connected to the speedometer and maybe this is why the radio is dead too? Radio only show 1.00 in the display and when I turn it on it shows also SCV in the bottom right corner. The only button that works on the radio is CD eject where I can here ittries to push out a CD.... Other then that, no function. Btw, thanks for this cool forum which I really look forward to be a part of in the future..... Wrooom!!! Jack

 

Check the battery voltage. When its low/weak, it raises hell with the ECM and electronics.

 

Jack, get the battery fully charged or a new one, (check all fluids) and get the engine running and let us know what is happening...Good luck.

 

The SCV in the radio is a system that turns th evolume up when you go faster, my 93 has a **** to adjust this "on the outside of teh volume ****".

 

I know you have problems but do you have time to tell us about your new ride? What color, trans, mods etc..


Welcome to your new hobby...

 

As I already said, I bought this 1992 White convertible in Florida and I have been really exited to welcome the vette over here. And yes it will be my new hobby I'm still new in the vette world but at least I do know it has a 5 speed automaic tranny, black canvas top, traction control, sport seats etc. There need to be done some minor (I hope) work on it to make it a beauty, but it will come. As soon as I learn a little moe about how to use this forum, I will try to figure out how to add pics. And to you folks wo already replied to my problem - I can only say WAUW you're great and friendly here at corvetteforum. Keep it up lik this guys! Cheers, Jack

 

Best advice you will get is to go to www.helminc.com and order the factory service manual.It has everything the GM techs know.Best money you will spend on you car.

Have you charged/replaced the battery yet it may be your problem?

Oh and welcome to the forum.

 

Congrats Jack
I agree with checking the battery and connections
Wish i could cruise Denmark in my vette, lots of fond memories there.
Most of them were of the beaches in summer

 

Ok I just found out today that batteries for Corvettes in Denmark are very rare and it takes a few days b4 my local GM dealer has it.... Maybe I now ask stupid, butsince I can't get a battery right here and now, I connected my trucks battery with cables and shouldn't that be just as goos as a fresh battery? Anyway, with the cables from the truck, speedometer display is still dead and after turning on ignition for the 15th time, only the text "average" showed up in my display?????

 

The battery doesn't matter as long as it is 12volts. By the way, I would suggest a maintenance free version so you don't have to worry about topping off cells. I second the idea that you really need the manuals for the car. Check ebay or whatever and get some, they will save you hundreds of hours if you want to do your own work.

 

You are going to get a voltage drop from the "good battery" (assuming that is fully charged) to corvette's battery. I'd check your vette battery with an DVM (volt meter set on DC 20v scale.) You should get at least 13.4v or there abouts for a battery in good condition that is holding a charge. If it's down in the lower 11v range, your ECM will probably act up.

 

To all of you, thanx for your support.

I have now replaced with a fully charged, brand new battery and my speedo/cluster still acts spooky. Today after the replacement, my display showed only some weird numbers and the text "LO" and nothing else. What do you suggest next? Take out the cluster and send it for repair or get a new one? or something 3rd,?

Can´t wait to hear from you guys again Have a gr8 weekend all

 

Hi Jack,
welcome to CF, it is always good to welcome a fellow 1992 owner.
Have you checked the fuses for the radio. On a 1992 there are two fuses, one is in the main fuse box by the passenger door and the other is in a hidden fuse box , under the dash on the passenger side, you have to remove the black plastic panel over the passengers feet. There are two screws towards the seat and one in the center towards the bulkhead that hold on this panel. When you remove this black plastic panel, two auxcillary fuse boxes should fall down attached to their wires. There is a fuse in one of these boxes labeled RDO that goes to the radio as well as the one in the main fuse box.

I also have a 1992 that had dashboard readout issues where it was blank or scrambled. The problem was the 34 pin connector between the dashboard cluster and the main wireing, if any one or more of these pins lose connection it will show up as a problem on your dash.

You have to take out the dash to get to this 34 pin connector, here is how you remove the dash:

1. Remove carpet hush panel on driver’s side under dash. - 5 screws
2. Remove metal crush panel between hush panel and steering column bolts - 4 bolts.
3. Remove steering column bolts and let column drop - 2 bolts
4. Remove speedometer outer bezel - 4 screws (2 up 2 down)
5 Removes gauge pod attaching bolts - 4 small bolts
6. Remove complete gauge pod from dashboard - it will unplug from the 34 pin plug built into dashboard at back of gauges as you pull it towards you.

Once you have removed the gauges, the section of the 34 pin plug that is fixed in the plastic behind the gauges is where my problem oroginated.
Try plugging the guages back in and turning on your parking lights or the ignition key to see if the readout is correct.
Now try moving the guages around to see if you can duplicate the problem you had before. Unplug gauges again.
Try to move this part of the 34 pin connector that is left in the plastic housing after the guages are removed, on the 1992 it can move around some in the slot that it is clipped into.
This is what causes the connection to lose contact.
Use some glue to glue this side of the connector firmly in place, clean both sides of this connector with some electrical cleaner.
Now reinstall the guages, test to see if they are working right, then reinstall everything in the reverse order as above.
Use a torque wrench to tighten the steering column bolts to 27 N-m or 20 lb-ft.

If you assertain that the problem is not in the 34 pin connection, then there is an internal 9 pin connection between thge glass LCD readout and a brown connector with 8 green wires and 1 orange wire. For a detailed explanation on how to rwpair this connection go to the top of this forum page, click "other", click "tech tips" click C4, then scroll down to how to repair an erratic 90 to 95 dash readout, or you can click on the following https://www.corvetteforum.com/techti...=253&TopicID=2
This is worth reading first because there are some good pictures posted in this article that will help you visualize what is ahead before you get started. The first 2 pictures in this article are of the 34 pin connector half that needs to be glued firmly in place.
Good luck
Jerris

 

This maybe dumb but was someone doing a diagnostic on your car and used a paperclip to pull codes from underneath the steering column? And they left the paper clip still in? The "LO" maybe a a "1.0" which is sometimes the last thing you see after pulling codes.

If the paper clip is still in when you turn on your cluster lights you will see on your dash different letters and numbers like H72,C72,H41,C41, etc etc.
I hope its a simple paperclip causing you the problem.

PS may not be a paperclip but something that looks like an ALDL cover.

 

Jerris,
Nice write up.

 

Yep! In my bookmarks now

 

Thanks so much again to all of you...... It seems like the 34 pin connector was my problem...... With the cluster! So tomorrow I'll try t check my radio fuses.

The radio shows only 1:00 in the radio display and whe I crank up the scv vlume, the "scv" apears in the display as well. since the display is on and all light is on in the radio, do you still thik it's a fuse problem?

Anyway, I'll check it frst thing in the morning

Once again, THANKS