My guages are messed up. The tach doesn't rest on zero, I don't think the oil pressure reads correctly, and also doesn't rest on zero. My speedo doesn't work. My temp doesn't work. and I don't know how reliable the tach, oil, or fuel guages are. I would like to use this cluster because I wanna keep the car as original looking as possible. Is it possible to reuse these guages? What will it take to fix them?

Thanks in advance!

PS - The guages reading non-zero is not due to the fact that the guages are out of the vehicle and laying on the ground. This is how they were inside of the car. The tach may have moved up 200rpm, but thats it.

 

Most of the time my gauges dont rest on zero. As for the speedo not working when you took the cluster out did you have to remove the speedo cable? If you did you might wanna check to see if its still connected to the tranny. Or possibly the guts have broken in it. The fuel gauge is simple to check for accuracy, just fill the tank up with gas and see if its on full. If it isnt you can carefull pull your needle off and place it on the full mark, also our fuel gauge needle will bounce around like its on a freakin trampoline so dont bescared if its doing that. You may need a new coolant tempature sending unit, or the green wire with a single connector on the driver side of the motor near the a/c isnt connected to the coolant tempature unit. The way I calibrated mine was to get the car warm and use a heat gun on the cts to get the relative tempature it was at. The gun looks like a radar gun, and I just had to point it at the spot. The way I calibrated my oil pressure gauge was to get a mechanical pressure gauge to see the pressure while idleing. I had to unscrew my oil sending unit and put the mechanical line in. Luckly the reading I got from hte mechanical was the same as my gauge. The way I calibrated my tach was to turn my key but not start the car the gauges will bounce around and then they should settle down to their zero's. I then put my tach needle on zero.

 

The speedo was connected (and boy was it a pain to remove). When I spin the speedo on the guage it will respond so I'm thinking it came loose at the trans or it's something w/ the cable. The coolant sensor has been rigged to an aftermarket and I got a mess of rigging to undo. The reason I think the oil guage is bad is because I was sitting at idle and the oil guage read at zero and the engine didn't blow or clank or noticeably change at all. I also think I got a bad crankshaft bearing which could be foolin' w/ the oil pressure.
If I replaced that green flimsy "circuit board" on the back, do you think that would give me more relaible readings from my guages? I'm sure it's 21 yrs old as is the car, and part of the copper at the bottom tried to flare up at me. I don't know how expensive it is, but I don't think it'd be much. I don't think that the circuit board does any "thinking", it just merely passes the signal. Would it be a good idea to replace the circuit board anyways if it's inexpensive given it's age it's probably done all it's going to do and it'll just be a matter of time before it gives out?

Thanks for the info. I'll calibrate 'em all later (when I get my new engine perhaps?)

 

Try checking on those copper contacts on the back, where the connectors attach to the cluster. What does you oil gauge read while driving.

 

My oil pressure guage read low at idle and driving. I don't think it ever went above 3/4 of the way when I was driving, no matter how I pressed the throttle. At idle it was usually less than 1/4 up. I don't know the numbers off hand, but just think of the needle range and thats what my fractions are referenced to. I've only driven my car once. Due to the sound it makes with that bad bearing (I think it's bad bearing) I was afraid to drive it much. I just drove it about 30mi and then parked it until I can fix it.

As far as that copper goes, theres a curly section down by some of the indicator lights (check engine, choke) that is not tied to that light, that has lost it's adhesiveness to the flimsy plastic. That's what makes me think "OK, the circuit board is gonna go soon... I'd hate to do this again just 'cause I didn't fix that". If I thought it was in good condition, I'd give it a good cleaning w/ some alcohol.

 

You can superglue the copper wires back down. I had to do that where the wires go into the connectors in the dash. From what you've said I bet the motor has a major problem. Try posting about it on the tech/general engine board. Looking at your cluster I say you have the LG4 V8?

 

I believe it's the LG4. It's a V8, 5.0L 305ci. I don't know much about it yet.