Instrument Cluster Lost Ground
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Joined: Sep 2008
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Instrument Cluster Lost Ground
As evidenced by both Turn Signal indicators and High Beam indicator on Cluster staying lit and no back-lighting on. I've lost ground to my Cluster. All instrumentation works but the four lights don't illuminate the Cluster. Disassembling the Cluster is my "last" resort. Any clues on where I may have lost ground besides internally in Cluster?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 944
Likes: 11
From: Davie Florida
Its in the cluster, ( I had the same problem )
There is a guy on here that rebuilds them & is prety reasonable & quick.. I will look & see if I can find his name..I tried to do mine myself, But I have to say when I opened the cluster up, I changed my mind, That is realy not my kind of work.. I heard alot of people fix them themselves, but also heard some people do more damage then good..
There is a guy on here that rebuilds them & is prety reasonable & quick.. I will look & see if I can find his name..I tried to do mine myself, But I have to say when I opened the cluster up, I changed my mind, That is realy not my kind of work.. I heard alot of people fix them themselves, but also heard some people do more damage then good..
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Joined: Sep 2008
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I had it rebuilt but the warranty ran out. I'm not convinced my ground loss is in the cluster itself. I'm hoping I lost it somewhere between the connector and the body ground. Like you, I really don't want to "open up" my cluster.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 14,989
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Go here. There is a list of symptoms, and what you're describing is there. It's a pretty simple fix if you are good with a soldering iron. Just time consuming getting the cluster out. You will probably have to remove the digital cluster.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 7,839
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From: San Diego, Ca
Depends on Year, but there are 2 grounds - Pin D1 & D3. Through '88, D3 passes through the Big Connector behind the Battery and it sits at the bottom of that Connector where water can collect and corrode it. In '89, GM woke up and moved it so that it runs with the ECM harness behind the right head. D1 runs with a bunch of other stuff to the driver's side kick panel and is usually good (if it wasn't all that other stuff would be mucked up). Simple solution is to splice D3 to D1.
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It's an '86. According to shop manual, D1 the "Illumination and Telltale Ground". My guess is that's the one that's bad. D3 is the ground for 'Sensors'. All digitals work so I'm guessing that ground must still be good. This fall, when I quit driving it for a while I'll verify the grounds and then try jumpering across them as you suggested. Thanks for the input.
