Dashlights and charging issues

[powerline84]

Ok so I am having charging issues in my car. On top of that the only lights that work currently are the headlight green symbol and a backlight behind the spedo. All the gauges work.
Battery light does not illuminate when key is turned to on 51814518155181651817518185181951820
Brand new alternator and plug.
-new 4 gauge ground from alternator to valve cover.
-fuze block is new.
-fuze number 5 is checked and operational.
-put a new bulb in the battery light socket.
-there was minor damage at plug on circuit board. A couple of the cooper leads are lifting up but still looks decent.
-wngine harness is new 83 nos.

I am at a loss ...do I need a new printed circuit?

Please help lol

Jimmy

[Lwanmtr]

Did you check all the bulbs in there? If they are the original, its possible they may have gone bad.

if the car isnt charging, you may need to test everything in there starting with checking that you have around 14v at the battery when the car is running, then at least you know the alternator isnt at fault.

Check bulkhead connectors and make sure they are good and tight, maybe even pull them and clean the contacts. I use electronic cleaning spray, which does pretty good and dries super fast.

Once you know you have good charge going to the battery, test the pins on the connector to see if youre getting power there (get a wiring diagram, itll help)

Im in a similar situation, trying to diagnose why im not getting power to the radio socket (yaay for electrical things)

[AugustneverEnds]

If the battery warning lamp is not illuminating then the charging system will not work properly. You have to make sure the pathway on the circuit board is intact and providing a solid continuous connection. You can solder breaks in the circuit board and glue the copper tabs back down. I had a circuit board give me fits because I couldn't get the tabs lined up and glued down neatly and stay. I bought the new one delorean.eu sells, tabs and circuits built into the board not peeling off the plastic backing like NOS, much better and no problems since.

[powerline84]

Been multimeter crazy all day. Broke down and ordered a new circuit board as mention above. Mine looks pretty rough in a few spots.

[Lwanmtr]

New parts never a bad idea...hehe.

[powerline84]

I don't think it's the whole problem but it needs to be addressed....josh has been helping me all day. I had to walk away today. I'll resume tomorrow. I was ready to throw shit lol

[Lwanmtr]

Understand that completely...lol

[Delorean Industries]

I think we have your harnesses pretty well tested out. The board is the likely culprit at this point. We will do some jumper techniques tomorrow if you have time.

[DMC5180]

Been multimeter crazy all day. Broke down and ordered a new circuit board as mention above. Mine looks pretty rough in a few spots.

A few years back I had several lights out and gauge issues when I first powered things up from a 5 month winter nap. I ended up removing every bulb and socket along with instrument contact nuts and cleaned everything with tarn-x. Every exposed copper trace contact was cleaned. I reassembled all of it and everything worked perfectly after that.

That being said, now that Delorean Europe has New remanufactured PCB's
I will be replacing the old one since there are connector tabs popped loose.


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[SS Spoiler]

Iv'e never had the binnacle off and all dash lites work....

[powerline84]

I think we have your harnesses pretty well tested out. The board is the likely culprit at this point. We will do some jumper techniques tomorrow if you have time.

Yeah brother I'll be out there in the garage adjusting crossgate shift linkage in the morning.

[powerline84]

A few years back I had several lights out and gauge issues when I first powered things up from a 5 month winter nap. I ended up removing every bulb and socket along with instrument contact nuts and cleaned everything with tarn-x. Every exposed copper trace contact was cleaned. I reassembled all of it and everything worked perfectly after that.

That being said, now that Delorean Europe has New remanufactured PCB's
I will be replacing the old one since there are connector tabs popped loose.


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I have one on the way

[DMC5180]

Definitely worth replacing.


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[Ryan King]

Those NOS and original boards have not held up and are utter shit.

Get a new one from Ed. I did so with no regrets. I also advise updating the nuts from the original ones to brass ones for a better connection. I have enclosed those photos for you as all with the correct sizing. Good luck

Photos of my experience -

Old Crappy Board
51827518285183351834518355183651837

New Uding Board
51838518295183951830518315184051841

Finished Product. I feel like the cluster worked even better then before. More responsive gauges and brighter light function.
51842

[powerline84]

Awesome man thanks !

[AugustneverEnds]

I forgot to add that replacing the steel washers and nuts with brass helps conductivity and Home Depot has what you need, good point Ryan King.

Where in NY are you by the way? I'm around Syracuse

[powerline84]

North of watertown

[Rich_NYS]

I forgot to add that replacing the steel washers and nuts with brass helps conductivity and Home Depot has what you need, good point Ryan King.

Where in NY are you by the way? I'm around Syracuse


North of watertown


Jimmy,

Nick is one of the guys I mentioned to you [near Syracuse] I planned to invite.


Nick,

You're invited to meet at Jimmy's, we're getting together near the end of June.


-Rich

[powerline84]

Bad ass . Look forward to meeting you guys .

[AugustneverEnds]

Jimmy,

Nick is one of the guys I mentioned to you [near Syracuse] I planned to invite.


Nick,

You're invited to meet at Jimmy's, we're getting together near the end of June.


-Rich

I just saw this. I will definitely plan on being there. Just got 10287 back with new tires and some exhaust work done so should be ready to travel.

[powerline84]

519465194751948


Well restored cluster with eds card, used led's and a regular bulb for battery light. Used brass nuts and washers. Still no battery light. All lights came on except lambda , park brake, fuel low (has gas), and the damn battery light. Fuze 5 is good, alternator is new. Dash restored. New 83 harness on engine. I am out of ideas. Does the harness that connects the horns up front have anything to do with this circuit? My horns are not installed at the moment.

[Drive Stainless]

519465194751948


Well restored cluster with eds card, used led's and a regular bulb for battery light. Used brass nuts and washers. Still no battery light. All lights came on except lambda , park brake, fuel low (has gas), and the damn battery light. Fuze 5 is good, alternator is new. Dash restored. New 83 harness on engine. I am out of ideas. Does the harness that connects the horns up front have anything to do with this circuit? My horns are not installed at the moment.

Ed's PCB is a really awesome piece. Light years better than what was previously available.

[DMC5180]

519465194751948


Well restored cluster with eds card, used led's and a regular bulb for battery light. Used brass nuts and washers. Still no battery light. All lights came on except lambda , park brake, fuel low (has gas), and the damn battery light. Fuze 5 is good, alternator is new. Dash restored. New 83 harness on engine. I am out of ideas. Does the harness that connects the horns up front have anything to do with this circuit? My horns are not installed at the moment.

Lambda won't come on unless counter switch is tripped, same with low Fuel. If you want to check low fuel, unscrew the sending unit cover and lift it out of the tank if you still have the OEM style unit. Parking brake, pull up on the lever. Also if you are using LEDs, you may need to remove and reinstall the base 180 turned if they are polarized assemblies.

Alternator light: did you ever do a continuity ring out between the instrument cluster connector and the field wire end at the alternator?

Large cluster connector pin 7 Brown/Yellow to BR/yellow at alternator. Typically you will need to make a long wire and clip/clamp it to the alternator end and complete the series with your DVM at the cluster end. I made a 6 ft Alligator clip test lead for doing things like this. Very handy.

Did you confirm the bulb is good by Ohm checking with DVM. Never assume anything.

The one thing that is common to all the lights you stated not coming on is the Ground wire trace. Do a continuity check between any black wire in the cluster connector to a known ground point to verify continuity.

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[powerline84]

So randomly I put key in and battery light came on and alternator charged battery. Turned car off and circuit failed again 5194951950


Tried wiggled connector at binnacle. Played with bulb and socket. Wiggled bulkhead connectors then wiggled alternator....nothing

[DMC5180]

Nothing, meaning what? The cluster is dead or just parts of it? Your photo shows the engine running and the first photo is with key on engine off.

Makes me think you have a flaky ignition switch. The good part is you have at least confirmed the basic circuit wiring to be intact.

Btw, why was the Rpm at 2500, or did all the gauges float off of Zero when it wasn't running. I always forget these gauges do quirky things when Off.

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[powerline84]

Nothing as in I couldn't get battery light to come back on. I was breaking in the cam that's why the rpm was so high. I am starting to wonder what's left to be the problem. ?@?!?!?!?!?? Lol

[DMC5180]

Okay, I get it.

Have you pulled the BH connections off to verify none of the pins are pushed back? It has been known to happen. I lost power to my WUR heating element because that happened once.


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[powerline84]

Good idea ...I have but I'll check again

[Rich_NYS]

I haven't been paying close attention...you checked the battery light circuit, right? As in: you can make the light go on & off with just the alternator lead (without the alternator.)

I've been dealing with some weirdness I haven't posted, I'll share here since it's relative to your issue:

-Installed a new alternator on my car during my restoration.
-Battery light came on, volt gauge showed ~12.5V...new alternator went bad (not sure why.)
-Installed 2nd alternator, everything's good in the 'hood.
-2 weeks later battery light is on again. ~12V when the car first starts, 13.5V soon thereafter. Had the alternator tested....bad.
-2nd reman alternator is in my garage waiting for install.


Throughout all this I was sure to test my battery light circuit repeatedly for a good gut check. Everything is guilty until proven innocent.

[DMC5180]

Rich,

You bring up a good point I had forgotten about. Just grounding the field wire should make the light come ON as long as the key is in position II. He did get a batt light earlier as seen in the photo posted earlier. Now that makes me wonder if the voltage regulator is suspect or there is poor grounding of the alternator case to the engine.

I think this is a refurbished engine with paint or powder coated surfaces.

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[powerline84]

51961

I have already tried grounding the lead...but not after restoring binnacle so I'll try again tomorrow. As far as the ground , I added a heavy gauge ground from alternator to vlock...nothing. damn Rich I wonder if my alternator is the problem.

[Rich_NYS]

When I ground the lead, I use the case of the alternator as well as the block to verify the ground of the alternator to the block.

Have you tried that yet?

[powerline84]

Alternator circuit solved . Combination of printed circuit and a dirty bulb socket. Sandpapered the socket . Circuit complete

[powerline84]

Lesson learned here, even if socket looks good , clean them up. I tried switching SOCKETS before I replaced circuit card and it didn't work. So it was a also a bad circuit in the card to.

[DMC5180]

[emoji1303]


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