I am getting ready to look at an 85 that is for sale and the owner says that the dash will occasionally flicker between metric and us readings. I have been searching on the forum and found issues with LCD's flickering but not like this. Just wondering if anyone has heard of anything like this and if it is going to be a big deal to diagnose or fix. I was thinking maybe it was a bad switch or something. Any help woul dbe great. Also does anyone have a list of all the ecm codes that could be given? There is also a check engine light on and i was going to try and jump the adl pins to determine what error it is getting

 

Does the whole display (oil water and MPH etc) change or just the speedo? There is a switch that changes it and that could be the problem and not the dash. If everything is changing I would look at the switch first.

 

I would start at that switch. For codes, here is one of my sites that shows the trouble shooting flow charts for codes.
http://members.shaw.ca/corvette86/
The MAF code #'s will be the same as your 85, but the trouble shooting will be different. 85's used a different setup for MAF control.

 

I think the owner said it only happened to the speedo. I was originally not looking at the car because i have heard horror stories about the dash and it costing upwards of $2k to fix dash issues. After searching it sounds like its not that much of a big deal just wanted to see if i am getting into a can of worms i won't be able to handle.

 

I would not let that be a deal breaker. If you can live with it for a couple months I will make you a good deal on my dash and switch panel thing (whatever the he!! you call it) that all work fine. I am going to all autometer gauges this summer. Either way I would not think it would come anywhere close to 2K to fix it.

 

You can have your digital dash serviced at Contemporary Corvettes for about $200. Had mine done 4+ years ago and it has worked fine ever since.

http://www.contemporarycorvette.com/

 

Thanks everyone. i should be checking this car out and soon and will update everyone

 

Jason, I did mine I can walk you through it - no biggie

 

Hey Joe how's it going? Awesome its kinda funny i was thinking about you when i was talking to the guy about the car...i wonder why hmmmm You still using those black ZR1 wheels on yours?

 

You can use the dash issue to get the guy to drop the price.

I would agree that the switch in the small panel may be the problem. The speedo doing it by itself?? this is info I don't have knowledge of as I have never dealt with it.

But just for your own edification.....

Batee.com has a great writeup on fixing your dash yourself. This is an afternoon job and if you have a $20 soldering Iron and you can read and comprehend English, you can do this job so very easily.

The Fix is so easy I cannot fathom sending the unit out for service and waiting any amount of time.

Finding the "right" bulbs (you replace them just as a precautionary maintenance practice, not necessarily because they are burned out) is the key here. The right ones only cost ~$3 each and there are 4 of them.

My motive here is to get you thinking that a flickering dash is in no way a deal breaker......and I was in your shoes just a few years ago....sitting in a really nice '85 with a freshly rebuilt 383, body kit, new paint, you name it, but the dash flickered and that gave the illusion of an old POS to me........'cause I didn't know better.

Now buying a garage queen and watching the dash flicker out anyway.....and then fixing the dash (Sunday afternoon while football was on TV here in the garage) I know better

 

still have them tires still have tiddies on them too.

 

Nice May have to work something out if i pick this puppy up

 

i had a similar prob on my 84--i just got a rebuilt dig dash for 200.00 and sent them my core--looks good as new-and no probz at all since i replaced--took about 10 minutes-popped it out--put the new one in---good luck with it