Ok, I used the tech article from this sight to put a newer electric speedo in my 85 t/a. http://www.angelfire.com/mt/psh/speedo.htm I dont have the car driveable or even startable right now to totaly test everything out but here is my problem. I hooked up the batery today since I put the motor back in and wanted to test out the work I have done inside the car. Well if I turn on the lights the gauge lights work so thats a plus. The problem is that my bright head light light is on all the time. Also the security(I assume for vats since the cluster is out of an 89) light is also on. When I turn on the turn signals they work outside, but on my dash one doesent light up and the other lights up the wrong direction. I have thought of a couple of reasons I might be having this problem. One is that I havent completely got the motor wired up yet, and I may not have all grounds under the hood hooked up. Another is that maybe the 89 clusters could be pinned/wired different. I also have a 140 speedo in the garage out of an 86 and one out of an 87. These should be before vats and so it would get rid of the security lights right? Also I was wondering if anyone knows if the older clusters were different and would cause this type of problem. If I swithched to the 86 for instance do you think it could fix this? The reason I used the 89 is because it is the only one out of a 350 car and has the higher tach. If I use one the 86 or 87 cluster would the tach out of the 89 work in it fine? Ok, the last and probably most simple thing that I have found that it could be is that my battery is almost dead and possibly bad from sitting too long. When I tested this stuff I had a small battery charger connected to the battery to help out and the lights and stuff like that worked fine at that point. I still have the problems without the charger though because I tested after the bat charged a little but didnt have a very good charge on it yet so I put it back on the charger. One thing that I noticed was that the second time that I hooked up the battery the left turn signal did not stay lit all the time like it did the first time before I charged the bat at all, but the rest of the problems were still there. I realize this is real long but I was trying to give all the details I could think of. I appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks

Ben

 

Hey man,I take it you got the vss in then?

 

Yes I did. Got the wiring to it hooked up today. I cant test it out to see if the speedo works because I dont have the car running yet though.

Ben

 

Tomorrow I am going to put the battery out of my brothers rs in it to see how it acts. If this is not the problem (which I doubt it is I) and no one has any suggestions, I am going to try the cluster out of the 86 and see if it fixes the problem. It seems that it is only the cluster that is showing wrong. The lights on the outside of the car seem to work right so I think the newer clusters might be pinned different.

Ben

 

I would make sure you have a good ground. A bad ground can do wierd things. As far as the VATS light, I put an 89 cluster into my 87 and the VATS light took the place of my choke light.

 

Did everything else function properly? Also, I was wondering do the electric speedo and tach needles move when you turn on the car before you start it or not? Mine are not and my friend said he thought they should. I know some do but wasnt sure if these do or not. Like I said though I will try a good batery and double check my grounds. I think that the threads in the battery are stripped so I guess if the ground wasnt connecting good it could have been causing a problem also. Thanks for the reply.

Ben

 

Yes, everything worked, but mine was also originally elec. speedo, so it just plugged right in. I don't know if you had to do any splicing. As far as the speedo or tach needles moving when you turn the key on, I don't remember. I don't think so though. I'll try and check tonight and let you know.

Mark

 

Thanks, and the only wires that I changed whatsoever were the ones that went to the speedo gauge its self. I know other people have done the swap and the everything else other than the speedo should work by just plugging it in. At least I know now that the only difference should be the choke/security light. I think that should elemenate a prob with the cluster. Now I just need to change the bat and check the wiring/grounds. If you could let me know about the needles moving when you turn the key that would be great.

Ben

 

Ok, I checked it out and this is what I found. Both my tach and speedo were at zero, and niether one moved when I turned the key on. My temp, volt, and oil pres. guages all moved when I turned the key on. The fuel guage did not, but my tank was full and the guage was already showing full, otherwise it would have moved. Hope it helps.

Mark

 

Yes it does. Thanks. Goin to try that other battery tonight. I will let you guys know how it turns out. I am also planning on hooking up more of the engine wirng harness so maybe that will help.

Ben