my car was originaly equiped with the 2.5 fuel injected engine!i swap it with a v8 carburated!i remove the ECU from the car and now the gauges aren't working.i thought that in all models the gauges work direct from the senders and not via cpu.what can i do now?please help!!

 

The gauges and the ECU really dont have anything to do with each other....

is everything hooked up correctly? Are the gauges getting power?

 

we found the wires that goes to the senders..temp sender..oil pressure sender...volt meter..the car battery was plugged...and suddenly we unplugged the ecu...and eveything blank!!when we plugged it again the gauges worked.what is the problem?as i told in my previous post...i thought that in third gen f-bodies the senders are go direct to the dash gauges. i know that from my previous 1983 camaro.

 

That is very odd. Maybe the 82 has a different wiring schematic then the rest. Maybe the ECU is completing a circuit somehow.

 

if that's true..what can i do now?what is the best solution.i have my cars in original condition..and i don't want to put a douzin of AUTOMETER GAUGES on my dash!i like the originality of the car and i want to keep the original gauges.any sugestions??

 

go fine a car ecu and you should be fine for a camaro/firebird for the yard and plug it in.

 

i have its own ecu!you mean to plug the ecu and have it only to operate the gauges?i say that because the engine is carburated now.

 

Guages aren't controlled by ECU but perhaps the ECU is providing power or a ground to the guage panel? Checked wiring diagram there should be no connection, except for the tach. Have you verified the guage 10 amp fuse is good? You could also pull one of the guages, maybe temp and see if it's missing either 12V or ground. Would help narrow it down.

 

If the dash isnt getting ground the normal way perhaps it is finding a ground through the ecu.

 

my 82 t/a did this as well ... there is a dash harness ground to the left of the steering column. These ground wires are bolted to the dashes metal frame you will see them if you lower the steering column a bit look right up where the column passes through the dash itself thats where these wires are. those two ground wires when loose cause dash lights not to work and all I remember it also causing my turn signals to dimly illuminate in the cluster as well as the nothing working on the cluster.

 

thanks a lot guys!i'll check it out and come back to you.however my mechanic today told me that it is an easier way to make a brand new handmade harness of his own from the senders to the dash itself.i'll tell him all that things you said and i hope to do something!

 

Based on the on line wiring diagrams for the 1982 Firebird, the gauge circuits are independent from the ECU circuits. Exactly what wire(s) did you unplug when you lost power to the gauges? Wire Color and location where it was disconnected would be very helpful. Photo if possible would be great.

You can find the on line diagrams here...gauge circuits are in Fig. 5

http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us...rInfoPages.htm

The other thing I am seeing after reviewing the wiring diagrams in the 1982 Camaro Service Manual is this: The 2.5L engines have two fusible links, all the larger engines have three links. On the V6 and V8 engines, the third fusible link, connected to the red battery post powers the ECU. Also on the V6 and V8 engines the other two links are connected to the BAT terminal on the STARTER.

On the 2.5L engine the two fusible links are connected to the BAT post on the GENERATOR. If you are removing a fusible link to disable the ECU, that is likely your problem. I think you just need to pull the 10A ECM fuse from the fuse block to remove power to the ECU.

Let us know what you are disconnecting so we can figure if you are doing it correctly.

Dave