I'm having an issue with the gauge cluster not really appearing to work at all. I've had my car for sitting about 3 years now completely stripped out and it's been a slow rebuild. My New Year's resolution this year was to finally get this car done.

I finally got carpet in this weekend and got the dash put back in. I put a cluster in that I rebuilt from a couple of choice clusters and it doesn't appear to be functioning properly. Here's what I'm coming across

1. Speedometer does not function at all.
2. Tach "functions" but the RPMs shown vary wildly (from about 750 - 7k)
3. No fuel level
4. No volts
5. No temp
6. Oil pressure appears to work, but no way of telling.

As far as I can tell everything is connected, and I've triple checked the cluster to make sure it's all the way in, and that there are no breaks in the circuit board of the cluster itself. The other odd thing is that when the headlights are on, the gauges will peg out of fluctuate. As soon as the headlights are off, they go back to where they were.

I'm getting to the point where the gasoline and match option, while crazy, is actually appearing more and more appealing. I think the biggest issue is that the dipsh*t who owned it before me attempted to replace "the wiring harness", and while he didn't manage to hack it up too bad, I've still had my fair share of wiring fun with this car.

Has anyone had a similar issue with these crap clusters? I may have missed a similar post in the forums somewhere - but if someone wouldn't mind pointing me in the right direction or at least giving me some ideas, I would appreciate it! I'd hate to have to go through the effort of wiring in Auto Meters at this point in time, but the thought had occurred to me.

 

Did the tach come from a V8 car?

Did you have to do any splicing or soldering of wires?

what do you mean by #6?

 

The entire cluster came out of an 85 with the same engine (305 TPI). I didn't have to do any splicing/soldering (yet) at least not pertaining to the cluster or anyting behind the dash. I had to do a bunch of cleanup work around the battery/fan when I got the car, but that was all straightforward.

The oil pressure needle is the only one that seems to be responding but it jumps between pressures, and seems to be where it should be, but I'm not sure if that's just some fluke or if it's actually reading oil pressure from the sending unit.

 

Indicating your year, make, model, and drive train is always helpful, regardless of the question.

My bad.

JamesC