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73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Interior & Equipment => Topic started by: 77 cc lb on February 25, 2011, 04:08:56 pm
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hey everyone, i've read past posts about not having dash lights. i switched out the headlight switch, replaced fuses and all the bulbs. still have nothing. i guess i need to pull the cluster out, how do i go about disconnecting oil pressure gauge and speedo? is there just the one wire connection behind the fuel gauge area? one last thing, would touching the bulbs cause them to burnout? thanks for any info.
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If you haven't had it apart yet, how did you replace all the bulbs?
If your gauges and cluster are all stock: The speedo cable is a push-on connection to the back of the gauge with a spring steel retainer clip that you push to pull the cable end out of the gauge. When you get everything loose and ready to remove go to the engine bay and push some slack through the firewall grommet and it will give you more room to reach the clip. Then there is just the large connector for the printed circuit, an additional indicator socket, and the fiberoptic cable that runs to the ash tray. The oil pressure and fuel gauge and all that is run through the big connector, so no special technique is required.
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Did you rotate the headlight knob to make sure the dimmer is off?
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hey grim82, i've taken the dash out before, but not the cluster. i have the mechanical oil gauge i think because there's a cable connected to it. does that unscrew from the gauge? and i don't have the dimmer on, turned it both ways. thanks again for info.
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I've never dealt with a mechanical oil pressure gauge, but I would guess that it would have to have a fitting at the back of the gauge. Have a rag handy. I would probably check for power at the back of the headlight switch also. If you hook a test light or a meter to the illumination wire and turn the dimmer you should see a change. If you have power from there going to the cluster it might be a bad connection, or the printed circuit could be bad. The only time that I lost all of the dash lights it ended up being the headlight switch, and it popped when I rotated the dimmer to turn on the dome light. Good luck, electrical is not my area of expertise, but I'm sure you'll get it fixed.
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how do you tell the circuit is bad? is it obvious to see where it is bad? thanks grim82.
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how do you tell the circuit is bad? is it obvious to see where it is bad? thanks grim82.
Sometimes you can see a burnt spot, sometimes you can't. I have seen it both ways with different issues.
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thanks zieg85, appreciate the info guys!
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Have you checked for missing or burnt fuse?
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i stopped at oreilly's to get new fuses which i believe are supposed to be 4amp and they didn't have any so i got 5amp instead and that didn't help. im going to replace pigtail today. 1 connection looks melted a little, see if that makes a diff.
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how do you tell the circuit is bad? is it obvious to see where it is bad? thanks grim82.
Use an ohm meter and check each start and ending circuit (line) to make sure there is no breaks in the material. ( instead of having ohms it would go to either OL or blank depending on your ohm meter )
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If all the lights are out, wouldn't it be something before the printed circuits, otherwise you would have only some lights out or lots of circuits fried? Right?