No Instrument Cluster Lights...?!

[Ryan King]

So my left turning indicator light wasn't coming on. So I unplugged the binnacle, messed with the light, plugged everything back in...

Now...ALL the lights are dead. Except for High Beam works, Indicator lights work (When Hazard switch is on), and the warning lights (Battery, Brake, etc)

All the illumination lights are dead. I checked Fuse #8, fine, replaced it anyways. Still nothing.

I am at a loss....any ideas?

-Ryan "I really want to sell this piece of shit" King

[Christian Dietrich]

Sounds like the pin terminals on the plastic circuit board are junk. Ed from DMC EU makes brand new ones.

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[Ryan King]

Sounds like the pin terminals on the plastic circuit board are junk. Ed from DMC EU makes brand new ones.

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Brand new circuit board. All the terminals are laying flat and are fine

[Christian Dietrich]

Still though they can be very fragile and break and bend. I went through 3 till all mine worked. Also checked the contact and everything is lining up properly.

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[DMC5180]

Ryan,

Verify you have voltage at the cluster connection RED/white wires with a DVM or 12V test light probe.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Check for voltage on the rheostat red/white wire.

[AugustneverEnds]

Check fuse #5. I drove myself insane this spring after taking my cluster out and replacing light bulbs and having some things work and others not. Stupid fuse was blown.

I didn't know you need the rheostat connected to have the cluster lights work until this spring so +1 on checking that.

Replacing the steel washers and nuts with brass ones is a cheap and easy way to improve the conductivity of the circuits. Size 6-32 from Home Depot IIRC

I got totally fed up with the NOS printed circuit so I sprung for DMC Europe's new one. If you need an old one for testing I have 2 NOS extra I'd be willing to part with. One has contact cement to hold the tabs where the plug goes in and the other has some slight oxidation on the warning light tabs.

[Ryan King]

Check fuse #5. I drove myself insane this spring after taking my cluster out and replacing light bulbs and having some things work and others not. Stupid fuse was blown.

I didn't know you need the rheostat connected to have the cluster lights work until this spring so +1 on checking that.

Replacing the steel washers and nuts with brass ones is a cheap and easy way to improve the conductivity of the circuits. Size 6-32 from Home Depot IIRC

I got totally fed up with the NOS printed circuit so I sprung for DMC Europe's new one. If you need an old one for testing I have 2 NOS extra I'd be willing to part with. One has contact cement to hold the tabs where the plug goes in and the other has some slight oxidation on the warning light tabs.

So my Rheostat has the jumpers on the terminals. So None of them are actually connected to the cluster.

I will check the power on the Red/White wire on the binnacle plug itself, right?

I check ALL the fuses last night. None of them were blown.

Last night I got fed up and just walked away from it. Ill try to look at it again today with a more clear mind.
Its frustrating to go into it, just to fix one light, and now I have no lights. Grrrrr

[Bitsyncmaster]

So my Rheostat has the jumpers on the terminals. So None of them are actually connected to the cluster.

I will check the power on the Red/White wire on the binnacle plug itself, right?

I check ALL the fuses last night. None of them were blown.

Last night I got fed up and just walked away from it. Ill try to look at it again today with a more clear mind.
Its frustrating to go into it, just to fix one light, and now I have no lights. Grrrrr

One red/white wire on the rheostat drives the 5 lights in the cluster. The other rheostat wires (red/orange) get connected on the rheostat and should have 12 volts when the lights are on.

[Rich]

So my Rheostat has the jumpers on the terminals. So None of them are actually connected to the cluster.

I will check the power on the Red/White wire on the binnacle plug itself, right?

Sounds reasonable. Look for 2 Red/White wires on the plug.

The R/W wire out of the rheostat turn into 2 R/W wires at some point per the wiring diagram. The one that goes to binnacle plug terminal A2 runs the left 3 lamps and the one at terminal A14 runs the right two lamps. Likely that whatever you see on one of those terminals is also the same on the other one since none of the 5 lamps work.

Reference points are in this pinout diagram: LINK: Pinouts for 2 binnacle terminals (http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=972&d=1307764547)

[Ryan King]

LINK: Pinouts for 2 binnacle terminals (http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=972&d=1307764547)

Thank you for that link! Very helpful. Ill look into it either tonight or tomorrow and post my results. Thanks guys.

[Ryan King]

Check for voltage on the rheostat red/white wire.

What should the voltage read at that spade terminal?

[Ryan King]

What should the voltage read at that spade terminal?

Im only getting a reading of like...0.02 - 0.08. Both at the Rheostat spade terminal & at the plug going into the binnacle.

[DMC5180]

If the rheostat is full up it should be near system voltage. At this point your just looking for ANY voltage. I have no idea what the voltage range is.


Dennis

[DMC5180]

Im only getting a reading of like...0.02 - 0.08. Both at the Rheostat spade terminal & at the plug going into the binnacle.

What about the input side of the rheostat?


Dennis

[Ryan King]

What about the input side of the rheostat?


Dennis

Input side? I dont have the rheostat plugged in. Just jumpered. So I am inserting the positive lead of the multi-meter into the spade terminal. Should I also be grounding the negative lead?

[Bitsyncmaster]

What should the voltage read at that spade terminal?

Voltage would depend on the position of the rheostat and the load current. But I see you don't have the rheostat and have jumpered all the wires that were on the rheostat. So with your lights on you should have 12 volts on those jumpered wires. Yes you need to have the meter grounded via the black lead.

[DMC5180]

Input side? I dont have the rheostat plugged in. Just jumpered. So I am inserting the positive lead of the multi-meter into the spade terminal. Should I also be grounding the negative lead?

Yeah the jumpered around part didn't register when I was reading your post.

My bad [emoji20]

Yes, ground the DVM black wire to a bare metal spot on the radio mounting bezel. There is a ground attach stud on the back RH side with a few ground wires attached to it.




Dennis

[Ryan King]

Okay. So.

Went out and bought a much nicer Multi-meter from Sears. (Craftsman Brand - Made in CHINA)

I replaced all the little nuts on the back of the panel with Brass ones per a previous suggestion on here. Then...

Tested the voltage at the Red/White wire that WOULD go to the Rheostat (Since mine are all jumpered bypassing the switch). Headlights on getting - 12V or so. Okay. Great

Tested the voltage at the Red/White wire on the Binnacle plug, also read 12V...Okay...

So. Plugged it all back up. Nothing. So I replaced the illumination lights from LED to Incandescent bulbs...WORKED. They are very dim, but are working. They get a bit brighter when the car is on.

BUT....I still have issues. Still no blinkers. Right blinker is still not working. Left blinker now stays solid. Temp gauge needle is pinned upward and moves with the clicking of the turn signal back & fourth.

Diagnosis. I'm PRETTY sure the board is bad. It looks a bit oxidized and the pins are a little wonky. I could've shorted something out when I removed the binnacle initially to fix the left blinker bulb, as I didnt have the battery off. But I also noticed some of the bulb's pins were rusty. So I think moisture got in there and did a number on the board. I replaced the board from my original, to another NOS about 5-6 years ago.

[DMC5180]

Sounds like you have a flaky ground side trace on the PCB. Take your DVM and do some continuity checking with from positive side connector tab to the ground side tab with connectors removed. You can easily follow the traces. Also verify you have good continuity from the connector ground wire terminals to the chassis (pedal box).


Dennis

[Ryan King]

45430
45431
45432

Looks corroded. And the plastic is coming apart in places.

[DMC5180]

If any of those traces touch each other that could cause some of what you are seeing. Especially the turn signal issue.


Dennis

[Ryan King]

Also verify you have good continuity from the connector ground wire terminals to the chassis (pedal box).

Where is the pedal box ground? I recently went over all my ground connections. Replaced the bolt on the front frame extension and cleaned the contacts. Also the ones on the frame. Didn't know there was one on the pedal box

[DMC5180]

I can't tell you the exact point, but all of the major metal components under the dash are supposed to be grounded.


Dennis

[Rich]

Yes on this.

And de-wonkify the pins if you plan to keep using it. Sounds like you know a good board from a bad one now that you are into your second one.


Sounds like you have a flaky ground side trace on the PCB. Take your DVM and do some continuity checking with from positive side connector tab to the ground side tab with connectors removed. You can easily follow the traces. Also verify you have good continuity from the connector ground wire terminals to the chassis (pedal box).

Dennis

[Ryan King]

Yes on this.

And de-wonkify the pins if you plan to keep using it. Sounds like you know a good board from a bad one now that you are into your second one.

You know exactly where the ground is? I peaked under the dash but didn't see one on the pedal box.

[DMC5180]

You know exactly where the ground is? I peaked under the dash but didn't see one on the pedal box.

I went out and stuck my head under there and did not see an obvious one. I did test for continuity between a couple bare metal points of the pedal box, steering column and my SS shifter knob. There is 100 % continuity between them via chassis grounding.

[Rich]

You know exactly where the ground is? I peaked under the dash but didn't see one on the pedal box.

Feel free to check that ground anyway but we may want to focus away from the pin ground since other instruments on the A13 pin (ground for the Rt turn indicator in the binnacle and the temp gauge) is the same ground for other things that are presumably working (fuel gauge, oil press. gauge and tachometer, as well as the binnacle lamps). If those other things work then the A13 ground is good. Now that I read it back I see that the Rt turn indicator also works, or at least lights up, so that adds to the good-ground evidence.

Try making sure the pin contacts are clean, same for the flex connectors, then be sure the flex circuits sit square as the connector goes on so that each pin hits only its respective circuit.

[Ryan King]

Update! -

Received my new DMC Europe made Circuit Board to replace my NOS one I bought a couple years ago.
Overall, the quality is really really great. Ed states

" We know the problem, it is the age. the new are the same size, but stronger and the copper is now between 2 layers of plastic"
&
" New copper give always a beter contact, all to old stock has marks and some corrosion on top."

So I pulled the old one out and installed this new one. Also replaced all the crummy original nuts with nice new brass nuts. It really wasn't until after I removed the old board, that I think that's where my problems lie. It is toast. See photos below for reference. I am now doing the LED light, which to order, debate. I have some in there, but the terminals are starting to rust. So Im going to buy a new set. Maybe from SuperBright.

New Board Photos -
459784597945980

Old Board. I was able to rip the top plastic layer off. It was coming apart around the edges. The metal looks corroded and discolored. DMC shouldn't sell these any longer as the part doesn't meet quality or customer expectations.
45981459824598345984

[Ryan King]

Update! -

Received my new DMC Europe made Circuit Board to replace my NOS one I bought a couple years ago.
Overall, the quality is really really great. Ed states

" We know the problem, it is the age. the new are the same size, but stronger and the copper is now between 2 layers of plastic"
&
" New copper give always a beter contact, all to old stock has marks and some corrosion on top."

So I pulled the old one out and installed this new one. Also replaced all the crummy original nuts with nice new brass nuts. It really wasn't until after I removed the old board, that I think that's where my problems lie. It is toast. See photos below for reference. I am now doing the LED light, which to order, debate. I have some in there, but the terminals are starting to rust. So Im going to buy a new set. Maybe from SuperBright.

New Board Photos -
459784597945980

Old Board. I was able to rip the top plastic layer off. It was coming apart around the edges. The metal looks corroded and discolored. DMC shouldn't sell these any longer as the part doesn't meet quality or customer expectations.
45981459824598345984


P.S. WHERE IS THE GROUND ON THE PEDAL BOX PEOPLE REFERENCE? I cant find it. But would like to check it "while I'm in there" to make sure its making good contact.

[AugustneverEnds]

I ended up doing the same thing as you, spend the money to buy a NEW circuit board and stop fiddling around with contact cement, double sided tape and prayers with the 35 year old separating, past their useful life boards. Well worth it in my opinion. Plus it seems like the gauges move more deliberately with fewer jerky motions too.

[Rich]

P.S. WHERE IS THE GROUND ON THE PEDAL BOX PEOPLE REFERENCE? I cant find it. But would like to check it "while I'm in there" to make sure its making good contact.

There is no ground on the pedal box that I know of.

Here is a ground reference map thread.

http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?1371

The grounds to the binnacle plugs both come out of the big cluster of (black) ground wires you can see just ahead of the heater and A/C box, to the left of the pedal box.

[Ryan King]

The grounds to the binnacle plugs both come out of the big cluster of (black) ground wires you can see just ahead of the heater and A/C box, to the left of the pedal box.

Okay. Ill look again, thank you. I've been combing over the grounds lately. Took my Dremmel tool to the ring terminals, polished them up, replaced bolts and hardware to make sure everything is making a good connection.

I also made a short trip to the hardware store to buy some C clips to keep the board mounted correctly. This new board is so stiff that it doesn't adhere to the little plastic nubs. The clips did the trick. I want to make sure everything is well aligned before plugging in the wiring loom for the first time.

45988

[Ryan King]

UPDATE

ITS ALIVE. The new Circuit board by Uding fixed all of my problems. No more instrument cluster gremlins. The old board was the culprit.

I took the opportunity to also update the existing LEDs I had to newer units. Since LED technology has come a long way in 6 years.

Thank you to everyone who contributed. I really appreciate you guys.

46115

[Christian Dietrich]

Like i said a while back, just because the contacts look straight and good doesn't mean its good! My first new one out the weapper had 2 gauges that did't work right plus wasnt why i was replacing it. Glad you got it straight!

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