*poof* goes the Gauge Cluster Socket and Wiring Assembly

Last season I fried my ignition pig tail while trying to make the factory tach work. Ordered the rocketman tach and did the ammeter conversion. Over the winter took out the dash panel, replaced the lamps with LEDs. Finally got the tach in and operating… replaced the pigtail… and said ‘oh let’s plug in the dash’ and see how the ammeter and LEDs work (LEDs were bench tested before install via the harness with a 12v dc source).

Started it up … for the first time ever I saw the ‘brake’ light blink on the dash (hurray!) . Tachometer worked (hurray!), oil pressure gauge, fuel, etc. (hurray!). Ammeter didn’t seem to operate. But then here’s what happened next. Anyone have any idea what might have gone wrong? Know where I can source a NOS dash pigtail/gauge cluster socket and wiring assembly?

Considering there’s no needle in your ammeter I’m not surprised it doesn’t work.

it returned to position after the frying… maybe it was telling me something?

The voltmeter needle was buried to the right? Off scale that’s got to be 18V or more.
The needle returned to low left when off?
What is the volt meter wired to?

You did t tie one side to ground did you?

Thank you for your help!

It was grounded… Rkymn helped me to identify a strong suspect of what happened… It looks like the volt meter studs are not insulated from the cluster backplane. There should be red insulators that go in the holes that the ammeter/voltmeter studs go through, then a cardboard insulator between the nuts and the backplane.

Glad to see this didn’t turn into a fire that got out of control.

Talk about letting the smoke out! Hope you’re able to get that sorted.

She no longer smokes and is re-wired. Some things work and some don’t :slight_smile:

So, new gauge wiring harnesses thanks to WCCC. I repaired any singed wires in the under dash harness. Upon bench testing before install I could get every LED to light up. Hooking up just the tach circuit the tach is nice and steady.

Plugged in the gauge cluster to the harness, the gauge lights dont turn on (the brake lamp illuminates). The tach jumps about until I turn on the light switch, then its steady.

Ground somewhere is unhappy (temp and oil pressure gauges work).

When i look behind the cluster for anything obvious i see this white fabric covered wire hanging by a thread on the plug. Anyone know what this plug is/does? The shop manual schematics are clear as mud. Is this white wire a ground?

Any other ideas as to why the lights dont light? Thanks!

The low fuel relay is on page 19-30 in shop manual. The braided wire is not a ground. It loops back to the same relay-not really sure what it’s for just yet. Best of luck, sir.

1 Like

In that pic. It just doesn’t look like it’s connected right.

That white covering I think is just a jacket over the wire.

1 Like

That’s a 45 ohm resistor wire, part of the low fuel wiring at the plug. I’ve found that about 90% of the time it has broken off at at least one end; I can’t repair it as it is extremely fragile.

1 Like

Thank you! @67_289xr7

yeah it’s definitely hanging on by one strand of wire. I have to repair for sure @Sir_Ed !

Thank you @Midlife