Corvette cluster fix 1985
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 134
Likes: 0
From: Holladay Utah
To all,
This is a crazy and ambiguous contest of to fix or not to fix on your own. We all have our own knowledge base and comfort zone of which we use to repair ourselves or pay the price for someone else to do. I personally have a lot of electronic knowledge but I don't think I would attemp to completely rebuild my 700R4 transmission, although I do all my own wrenching on my cars and bikes. Sometimes the time for the repair dictates whether to have it done or do it yourself, learning curves can be hell. Now back to the cluster. The cluster is very complicated for someone who does not have the kowledge of the components, such as CMOS components that can be destroyed just by static electricity. It would really stink to go in just replace a capacitor on the power supply and blow up a CMOS processor, which would definately be beyond the average joe to not only troubleshoot but to replace the component.
Woody
This is a crazy and ambiguous contest of to fix or not to fix on your own. We all have our own knowledge base and comfort zone of which we use to repair ourselves or pay the price for someone else to do. I personally have a lot of electronic knowledge but I don't think I would attemp to completely rebuild my 700R4 transmission, although I do all my own wrenching on my cars and bikes. Sometimes the time for the repair dictates whether to have it done or do it yourself, learning curves can be hell. Now back to the cluster. The cluster is very complicated for someone who does not have the kowledge of the components, such as CMOS components that can be destroyed just by static electricity. It would really stink to go in just replace a capacitor on the power supply and blow up a CMOS processor, which would definately be beyond the average joe to not only troubleshoot but to replace the component.
Woody
8th Gear
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
I agree with CorvetteMike, did resoldering and inspected the components on my -89 board. did find the batee pages helpful, but still the problem remain, dead cluster. I actually ordered a repaired one. And I went with my old one to a electronic repairshop, but they turned the job down due to poor drawings (the ones from batee). and I think of myself as a handy man nonetheless!! does anyone know if the circeled number stamped inside the cluster indicate the man.year? mine says 85, but, as mentioned, the car is a -89 convertible??
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,226
Likes: 9
From: Irvine Ca
^^Could have been designed in 85 and that stencil remains.....
If you soldered your boards and they did not work....you didn't catch all the potential cracked solder joints. There are a ton of them.....and it takes about an hour to reheat them all
Damn you, I told you not to tell all the guys what I did...even though I used my wife's soldering iron....I do disagree that this is NOT a good place to learn.....actually this is a great place to learn as all you are doing is re-heating what is already there.
If you soldered your boards and they did not work....you didn't catch all the potential cracked solder joints. There are a ton of them.....and it takes about an hour to reheat them all
Damn you, I told you not to tell all the guys what I did...even though I used my wife's soldering iron....I do disagree that this is NOT a good place to learn.....actually this is a great place to learn as all you are doing is re-heating what is already there.
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 135
Likes: 0
From: London, Ontario
You sir are an idiot! but thanks for the laugh. When you get your head our of your azz you should start your own business.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,426
Likes: 229
From: Pennsylvania
I think we get the idea of what you are saying, but we're not all not as smart as you are?
We just rebuid entire engines. replace suspensions, repaint bodies, swap out transmissions and keep our older cars running and looking like new. But if we can't repair the dash as easily as you did, we don't deserve to own them? You may want to re-think that one.
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 135
Likes: 1
Its funny I can do that to. My gf built her first car at age 16 and bet she could do rebuild an egige and fix a vette better than 80% of the people on this fourm. Gezz its ahole like me that have all the luck in this world. What a shame it is. ALSO HATE ME MORE JUST BOUGHT A STORGE SHE AT AUCTION with lots of vette parts and a new 350 crate motor.
Intermediate
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 45
Likes: 1
Nice to see a thread come back from the dead.
It is a testament to the quality of the parts and design of GM electronics that so many people are able to work on these boards without a clue as to proper static discharge techniques without causing any problems. The boards are robust enough that there is a lot of leeway in the amount of heat that can be applied without causing any damage.
I was able to fix mine without buying new capacitors, should I say someone was an idiot for paying $ 1.85 for capacitors or should I say that there is the possibility of a range of different problems possible that may require different levels of expertise?
It is a testament to the quality of the parts and design of GM electronics that so many people are able to work on these boards without a clue as to proper static discharge techniques without causing any problems. The boards are robust enough that there is a lot of leeway in the amount of heat that can be applied without causing any damage.
I was able to fix mine without buying new capacitors, should I say someone was an idiot for paying $ 1.85 for capacitors or should I say that there is the possibility of a range of different problems possible that may require different levels of expertise?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 135
Likes: 1
Here we go again. Bought the caps in bulk so yes paid 1.85! And tested the caps and found the power supply caps were bad and expanding in the dash. All I meant was that its easy to fix. Sorry to offend! But you know the people love to jab and bring out the worst of themselves on this forum! Everyone knows that. But did work on a anti static bench. Guess there will be another 5 to 10 replys on how angery people are and nothing on the subject of the cluster. Who's next to express there concern.
