I bought a camaro about 5 days ago and have been trying to fix as much as I can but almost nothing electrical works, the climate control, reverse lights, turn signals, hazards, horn, battery indicator, oil indicator, temp indicator, dash lights, etc.

I can live without everything else for now but I need help fixing the turn signals, they blow every fuse I put in them. (Edit: The hazards fuse also blows) The switch still turns on the brights and wipers so its safe to say the switch is fine. When I turn on the headlights the front left signal comes on with them as well as the left running light, but nothing on the right hand side.

Im almost certain it's a short but I have 0 idea how to find it or if there is another way, does anyone more experienced have an idea?

 

Brights and wipers are completely separate switches from the turn signals. The dimmer is at the bottom of the column, the lever pushes a rod that runs down the column. The wiper switch is what the turn lever pushes into. The turn signal switch is in the center of the column and the wires run down the column to a flat connector on the column.
What lights come on when you turn the headlamps on? In the front you have a parking lamp, on the side is a side marker lamp and in the back is a taillamp.

 

Currently when I turn on the headlights the headlights come on, brake lights, left marker lamp, and front left parking lamp

 

A bulb is installed wrong, such that the bulb contacts are touching both the turn signal one and the parking light one at the same time; or, the socket is damaged from that having previously happened. It'll be one of the turn signal bulbs obviously. More likely the front butt could be either front or rear.

Sounds like either about half the fuses are blown, or one of the fusible links is burned out (there are 2) while the other is still working.

You are correct, this is almost certainly a short. Something(s) touching ground where it/they shouldn't be. A harness is chafed or some such. Try disconnecting the long flat plug on the side of the steering column and see if that clears it up. If so, the problem is inside the column, and you probably need one of these. https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...krE4I5eVhaA%3D Looks like it would be a SUPER PITA to change out, butt it's really not. Pop the wheel off WITHOUT destroying the horn contact (assuming it hasn't already been destroyed at some time in the past), tie a string (dental floss works great) to the connector, take it all apart, pull it out from the top, tie the string onto the new connector and use it to pull the new harness back down the column.
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I think my first step would be to remove all of the sockets and remove all of the bulbs and start from there. You might find a problem with a wrong bulb or butchered socket/wiring, Human error is the most common.

 

Because there was an issue with the title I dont have any money I can spend on new bulbs, do you think just removing them would fix the issue? Also how would I go about removing the front lights, I really dont want to have to remove the bumper

 

Take the bulbs out, see if things act normal with them gone, put them back in one at a time, until either it screws up again in which case at least you'll know where the problem is, or you get them all back in right. Good chance it doesn't need any new bulbs (at least, not to repair the issue at hand, although you might find a bad or wrong one here or there), butt only needs the l-a-b-o-r installed properly.

It's a Chevrolet. It's a light bulb. Everybody knows light bulbs go bad and need to be replaced frequently. Even GM knew that. In front, stick your head up under the corner of the front of the car, and look up. For the rears, open the hatch and look down; there's about 4 or 5 black plastic hardwares that look like giant screws; use a penny or something to unscrew them; lift off the cover that they hold on; unscrew the 3 or so giant plastic wing nuts that hold the tail light assy on; it'll fall out, and you'll see the bulb sockets. Not that hard, it's just a car after all.

 

You're the boss man, will try the bulbs when I get home and update after

 

Sorry for the wait, I got really busy. Anyway, I removed the bulbs on the problem side, bypassed the fuse, put the key in, and immediately something sparked and the signals no workie. I'd assume it actually is a short, however, a bulb I found (the running light) was completely messed up on the inside, what's the chances of that being the problem area?

 

Just realized there was a reply to thread button

So, on the problem side I took a wire tester after I unplugged the bulbs and the sockets were getting power, but the signal bulb looked fine?

Going to move to the back and see what I get

 

This **may** be the problem

 

 

So, using my multimeter I took apart the rear wiring harness then tested all of the prongs coming from the i side of the vehicle and all of them were 0 volts other than the brown one which was 12

 

Currently I am stopping for the night however I tore apart some of my interior panels to access the harness to which I didnt find any breaks, the wires are still shielded. Tomorrow I will attempt to take out the panel the wires go down into that has the seatbelt on the drivers side and hopefully find a break there. I really dont want to have to take apart my whole interior.

 

Ripped apart the interior all the way to the fusebox, no visible breaks, the wires are still shielded by that big piece of rubber. I cant quite get the harness near the fusebox to release so I can probe it with my light tester, hopefully there is just a break in the protective coat because I really dont want to have to go into the engime bay for wiring

 

What? Where?

After you did that, and determined that the problem had nothing to do with bulbs, and you unplugged the long flat connector on the side of the steering column like you were supposed to do, what happened?

All this about "voltage on the wires" is USELESS at this point. You're not ready for that yet. OF COURSE there's no voltage on the wires; the fuse is blown.

Troubleshoot this in a logical, orderly, disciplined fashion. That works like this: you know you have a short; you don't know where it is; you break parts of the system off of the ends, working back toward the source, one easy step at a time (like removing bulbs and unplugging connectors), until you find the point where you can break it and that clears the fault; once you get there, YOU KNOW the problem is between whatever the last thing you broke open that DIDN'T clear the fault, and the point that DID clear it. YOUI'RE NOT READY YET to start tearing out panels and all that. You're doing extra stuuuuuuupid work and wasting your time and everyone else's. Use your brain instead of your inner gorilla.

Put the car back together. Remove all the bulbs. ALL: that means every one. Next, we're going to use your DMM, instead of popping fuses or setting the car on fire. Unplug the TS/BU and the STOP fuses (hazards are fed from the STOP fuse). Using your meter set to Voltage, find which side of the TS one's place has 12V, and which side doesn't. Put your ohmmeter between the side that doesn't and a metal chassis part. DO NOT mess with the side that has 12V on it in any manner way shape form or fashion. Your ohmmeter should read 0 ohms or close to it (like, less than 0.5). That's what a short IS: an unintended connection between 2 points that allows current to flow where it shouldn't; i.e. a ZERO OHM (or close to it) connection that's not supposed to exist. If it reads "open (which is, infinity, "OL", open circuit, whatever your particular meter calls it when there's nothing there to measure the resistance of), repeat at the STOP fuse, starting with identifying the 12V supply side. One fuse or the other (you didn't say which one was blowing) will show zero ohms to ground.

The reason for using an ohmmeter for this is, to avoid popping fuse after fuse after fuse by replacing them and making a change and seeing if they blow, or risk BURNING YOUR CAR TO THE GROUND by starting a fire in the wiring, or potentially damaging the wiring further, by jack-legging it like you did ("bypass" the fuse.... one of the DUMBEST things you can do) and letting short-circuit currents flow through it. All of those things are BAD. Reading a meter is GOOD. All you have to know is, what the meter SHOULD read which is open, as opposed to what it SHOULDN'T, which is ZERO OHMS (what you have now).

What does the meter read? Does it read something arbitrarily close to zero ohms? OK, now unplug the steering column connector. What does it read now?

Seriously d00d, this is JUST NOT THAT HARD. Granted, you have TWO problems going on at the same time; (1), you have/had a short between the tail light filament and the turn signal filament of a bulb or socket somewhere, and (2) you have a short in the wiring between the fuse and the TS switch. 2 unrelated problems, in 2 different places, causing 2 different sets of symptoms. Only thing those 2 problems have in common is, they're both in your car, and they both involve lights. Split them in half mentally, work on them one at a time, they're both EXTREMELY SIMPLE and easy to find and fix, if you attack them with logic, reason, and discipline instead of ... "bypassing" fuses and tearing the car apart needlessly.

 

Respectfully, I came to this forum asking for help because I knew I was messing up, keyword, help. Insulting my intelligence and telling me its "Not that hard" doesn't help my or your situation. I did what I was told to do and what I already knew, a mechanic told me to bridge the fuse, I didn't just conjure up that thought. People who jump in, insult, and just act like the fix is super easy but don't give precise instructions on how to get there are the reason others do stuff and don't ask for help then mess it up beyond repair. I took off my panels to visually look for a break, not to have someone get all in the works at me because their (badly explained) way of doing it is better. Out of anything you explained you didn't finish explaining it because you couldn't wait to insult my intelligence. Do better.

 

OK, so what happened after you disconnected the plug on the column?

Nobody's "insulting" you. I'm trying to convince you that IT'S NOT THAT HARD, that YOU CAN DO THIS, that (although I didn't say this, I just sort of let it be understood that you already knew) this is just part of what comes with a freshly-bought ANTIQUE CAR. Regardless, YOU CAN DO THIS if you get your knickers out of a twist.

YOU CAN DO THIS.

What do you expect out of us here? Are we supposed to come to your house and do this for you? Do you expect that in 140 words or less, or whatever, I'm going to tell you EVERYTHING you'll ever need to know in terms that YOU comprehend? Am I to turn you into an expert, with no effort whatsoever on your part? I'm telling you all I can, short of sitting here writing a book and coming over to do it all for you. Maybe I "assumed" (yeah I know) too much up front, like that you had SOME KIND of experience somehow somewhere along the line that taught you something about something. Maybe I was wrong? Maybe you don't want to fix your car, butt instead just P&M about the help you're getting?

Do better.

What happened when you did the tests that I gave you to do? What did the meter read at each stage of troubleshooting?

 

I apologize, I did come off as an *** earlier because I misunderstood what you were trying to tell me, that was on me, I was just upside down checking out the fuse box area for an hour when I read it and thought you were attempting to insult me for not knowing all of this stuff already, I am sorry, and as for the tests I am still attempting to do them, I had to get batteries for my multimeter

 

Again, I apologize for my unprofessional actions earlier, however, I did just test the 2 fuses to your instructions, I did the turn fuse first which was getting 0.1 ohm then I moved to the stop fuse which was only getting 9.5volts and was at a constant 1 and would not move (I have a cheap harbor freight multimeter so Im assuming 1 is just ol)

 

Before I forget, with the ts fuse (turn fuse) I really had to move the ground around a bit until I used a part of the body in the door jam to get the lower than 1 reading. Both the stop and ts fuse blow, not just one. Also would this potentially explain my battery drain? The CTSY causes abt 8 volts of it but there is still 2.5 more that remain after the fuse is pulled, thank you.

 

It's OK, we'll get over it.

Likely so, esp if it was the left-hand-most 1.

Possibly. So, we're up to 3 problems now. Wouldn't be surprised if all this was why the car was for sale to begin with.

If all of these measurements were with the steering column disconnected, then the problem(s) with blowing the fuses, will be between the fuses and the column. On the TS side of things, which sounds more likely to be the direction we're headed towards, the only thing between the fuse and the column, is the TS flasher. (flasher! I hardly even know 'er) This is either in the "convenience center" which is a sort of little tray thing that the diagnostic connector is mounted to, or right near there on the back side of the dash, between the column and the "convenience center". (differs from year to year and by the engine, so I'm not positive which of those choices your car will have) It's a little round can about 1¼" dia x 1" tall. Unplug it. Likewise, the only things between the Hazard flasher and the column are the Haz flasher which is a similar object mounted in the fuse box, and the connection to the backup light switch. Unplug that flasher also. Leaving the column unplugged, see what the meter reads with those gone.

Of course there are wires in between those points as well; butt as far as components, that's it. And even at that, the wires are short, and mostly out in the open where you can see them, if it comes to that. With luck we won't have to track down any random "improvements" that some previous owner may have inflicted on the car.

 

Just got outside when it hit me, I forgot to do the measurements with the steering column disconnected, so I will re do those, and yes the 1 I was talking about was far left. And the only add on I can see is some fog lights (really bad ones at that) but even when completely disconnected the drain is still there with that and the ctsy fuse out.

 

Just retested both the ts and stop fuse 5 times each, the ts fuse is hovering between 1.5 and 2.5 ohm and the stop is old im assuming since it's the far left one, if it helps I am using a different ground point today since I already put back on the kick plate so instead of using the screw hole from them I used a piece of bare metal on the door hinge

 

Retested after removing the absolutely destroyed flasher and the silver one from the convenience center and I was getting a solid far left 1 on both of them, is that good or bad? And does this mean the flashers were just the issue with the signals?

 

Hmmmm... as we were saying about "previous owner improvements"... the thing about those is, there's NO WAY IN HELL to even GUESS, let alone KNOW, what some yutz with a pair of dykes did to the car in the process of somewhat associating them with the car (I'm not going to grace the heinous act with the term "installing"). We can talk about FACTORY wiring all day long; butt once it gets into ... that other ..., things get MUCH tougher. I can't see your car, I can't trace wires that Stimpy put in there, I can't look inside the PO's head and find out what they were "thinking" (I use the term VERY loosely), not I nor anyone else besides THAT moron can answer "why" they did whatever they did. Best we can do is, find their excrement piles after the fact, and shovel them into the trash can as we come to them; and repair whatever damage we find that they did as best we can.

Best I can suggest about the fog lights therefore is, cut off the wire going to those as close to wherever Skillet picked up "power" from, and repeat the tests to see if it changes anything.

We're not working on a parasitic draw yet. Fugheddaboutdat. We're working on blowing fuses. One defect at a time. Logical, rigorous, focused, disciplined, orderly. One PO land mine at a time. Ignore the parasitic until we get the fuse blowing fixed.

That's probably good. That means that there's no longer a short (zero ohms, or close to it) from the protected side of the fuse to ground. You can pick up a new flasher at the corner parts store easily enough to replace the destroyed one.

 

Got new flashers, and 2 rear sockets sonce the original ones were no good, going to hook everything back up and try it, hope to God it works. And as for the foglights I unplugged everything related to them and still a draw, I even unplugged the lights themselves

 

Okay, I stuck in the flashers, the new fuses, turned the car to run (didn't start it), tried the signal, and nothing. The front left two still come on with running lights but the signal switch wont work the signal, Im going to try to hookup the rear sockets and see it they work back there

 

Update, the turn signal sockets I bought have 3 wires coming from them, my previous ones had two, the new ones have white, brown, and black and the original had black and green on the right and black and yellow on the left

 

Update; Im in a really weird situation

When the key is all the way off and the hazard switch is pulled out the hazards are on and the turn signal sound plays, when the hazards are turned off the turn signals cant be used, when I turn the key to on/run neither the signals nor hazards work, but no fuses are popping.

Some useful info is that I am missing the rear left light but the socket is there

 

Forgot to update my message, I can use the hazards with both the key on or off, or completely out

 

Another update, last one for the night, I just realized when I turn on the hazards the front right interior light doesn't light up but does with the running lights being turned on. The outer light doesn't come on for either, I used a test light on it which only lit up on the right side of the socket not the left. I also tried a brand new bulb and no difference, all fuses still good too.

 

The original sockets for the turn signal bulbs were hooked up to power only the bright (brake & TS) filament. 3-wire sockets have wires for each of those filaments, plus of course ground. Black is the ground, the other 2 are "hot". You can put a bulb in the socket, hold the black wire to the neg batt terminal, and touch the white and brown to the pos terminal alternately, to find out which is the bright filament. Or, you could just hook both of em up to the colored factory wire, and let both filaments come on at the same time, which won't hurt anything butt will be just very slightly brighter. (emphasis on "slightly", as in, there's probably more difference from one bulb to another than there is in one bulb lighting up both vs the bright filament only)

Incidentally, I always prefer to get sockets for the newer style bulbs (3056 & 3057) that push in whenever I have to change em, rather than the old 115x that turn. They work exactly the same, just, the socket is AHELLUVALOT LESS trouble. The sockets themselves are interchangeable in the housing as well.

If by "interior" you mean the dash indicator, then you still have bulb contacts touching somewhere. The reason the parking lights can do that is, if a parking light filament contact and a turn signal filament contact are touching, then the 12V being sent to the parking light, will get put onto the TS wire as well, which will light the dash indicator. Do they still do this with ALL the exterior bulbs removed? And by ALL, I mean ALL: every single one. I forgot to mention, one of the stuuuuupid things that a PO might have done, is put a single-filament bulb (1156) where a dual-filament one (1157) belongs; while it's not "supposed to" be possible to do that, because the bayonet lugs on the bulb are different on the 2 styles, with enough force the wrong one can be jammed in. Then, the single contact in the center of the 1156 bulb, can touch the 2 side-by-side contacts for the 1157, which of course is the same as ... bulb contacts touching.

With all the exterior bulbs out, both dash indicators should come on and stay on when the hazards are turned on; and they should do the same, on whichever side, when the TSs are operated.

Doesn't matter. Ignore it. Almost certainly has nothing whatsoever to do with the light bulbs anyway. Regardless, we're not working on that anyway; we're working on lights; so don't worry about it until the lights are fixed and we start working on "draw". Meanwhile you'll just be wasting your time by chasing your tail in 2 directions instead of just one. Disconnect the batt when you're not working on it if it's that bad.

Of course. You're supposed to be able to park the car by the side of the road, turn it off, take the key out, lock the car, and go find help or buy gas or whatever; so that's how they're supposed to work.

Probably good. If you replaced them, and the ohmmeter still read "open" (far left 1 only) afterwards, then it's at least not bad.

Hard to say. I don't think there's any way that a flasher can cause fuses to blow, because nothing about them is grounded; meaning, they can't create an unintended path to ground. Butt hay, if they're destroyed, they need to be replaced anyway, whether or not they can blow fuses.

 

Shouldve been more specific, interior meant the signal inside the grille and exterior meant the one outside of the grille on the fender. Also, for some reason unknown to me after I took out all of the interior panels, painted them (badly), and put them all back in; I started the car to move it to my backyard again and now the left turn signal works on all left lights and I hear the clicker inside, but the right one is still no bueno. Even with hazards or running lights turned on the right fender light wont work and the only way the right grille signal works is with running lights still.

I figured out the signal sockets, still missing a bulb for the rear left since I already overspent getting the sockets and the fender light bulb and all of that stuff. I knew black was most likely ground and realized the sockets are probably like the brake lights that have two types of light (when you turn on your headlights and when you hit the brake).

However speaking on the dash anything; the speedometer and gas gage work, nothing else does, the tachometer is aftermarket and is above the steering wheel, also come find out the ecm was deleted (very poorly, he just cut the wires to it). When I turn on the lights none of the dash lights come on no matter what. The signal indicators also dont work as you touched on, and I have tried removing every bulb. I even removed the cab bulb. Also there is both a battery meter and temp gage on the dash, it looks like they might be electronic because I think I see a screen, but they dont come on or light up so I dont know. (Edit: The tach also works)

Good news is the radio stopped blowing fuses though randomly, I figured Id try a new fuse since my luck was turning around and it didnt blow, I hooked up a cb to the black and yellow, turned on the car, and it worked.

 

Did I mention anything about "previous owner improvements"? I don't know anything about them, can't see them, don't know what they are, don't know how they're supposed to be wired, don't know how they ARE wired instead, have no idea what else they disturbed while hacking on whatever they were hacking, ... no doubt, you get the point.

I can only help you with FACTORY stuff. Not that I don't know anything about anything aftermarket; just, once somebody has got in there with their dykes and started "splicing" things, there's NO WAY IN HELL I or anybody else can GUESS, let alone KNOW well enough to guide you, what's in there. There's NO TELLING what they did to that car. The ONLY thing you can do now is trace EVERY wire, and discover what's been hacked.

If it's as butchered as you say, I'm afraid there's not much more I can do to help. The only way I can help you any further is if you UNbutcher it, and can somehow 100% guarantee it's back like the factory made it. Otherwise it's just one rabbit hole and tail-chase after another, that all lead nowhere.

 

sofa touched on it above, but note that each two wire lamp socket requires a single filament bulb (only one silver contact on the bottom) and the three wire ones require a dual filament bulb (two silver contacts on bottom). mixing them up will cause problems.

replacement bulbs at RA are like 50 cents a piece. I usually buy a box or so of each when I order.

don't give up just take it a step at a time.

 

Ooo, I completely missed that, I probably read it and forgot, Ill buy new rear turn bulbs next check, so far the project is on hold until I can get answers for the front right signal and fender light not coming on.

 

So minor update; I took apart the gauge cluster to fix the lights, in doing so I took out the lever part of the turn signal switch, when I put it all back together the left signal no longer came on when I tried it, but I waited 30 minutes, powered back on the car, and it works now? I have no idea

Edit: also the 3 digital dials probably aren't working because the ecm was deleted, should've put 2+2 together a while ago on that one

 

Sorry for the delay I was working through the winter, but I fixed the turn signals (kinda) it was the right marker light socket that went bad. Among other issues. But now the signals dont come on when the headlights are on, when the headlights are off they work just fine. Also when the headlight switch is turned all the way to bright the cab light wont turn off when the doors are closed. Thanks for all of your help!

Edit: Im thinking the battery draw might be from what happens when the headlight switch is turned to the right (left maybe?) I forgot which way but the cab light stays on when you turn it enough that it clicks.

Edit 2: Could this new issue with the turn signals just be because the battery is low? Also just realized the front signal light is a lot dimmer than the others but its probably nothing

 

Some food for thought - didn't see it posted previously. The bulbs in the turn signals can fail but still look fine on visual inspection (i.e. you won't see a broken filament even though it actually is). I've had it happen to me. Good to always keep one or two in the garage so you can swap out and test when something stops working.

 

Oh 100%, both or my rear signals and all of the signals on the passenger side have new bulbs because of this

 

Headlights on, funky turn signal action is consistent with a single filament bulb jammed into a two filament socket. Not the only thing that could cause it, but easiest to check first.

when the headlight switch is turned to the right until it clicks it should enable the cab lights even with the door closed. that's normal.

 

No gauges in your car are "digital". The ECM is totally unrelated to the gauges in every manner way shape form and fashion in 84. The closest thing to those 2 systems communicating has to do with the speedo: the ECM uses a little optical transducer that mounts behind the speedo, to literally "watch" the spinning magnet that the cable drives, without touching it or otherwise interfacing with it in any way except for illuminating it with an old low-power infrared LED kinda like your TV remote control has. Doesn't matter whether the ECM is there or not, if the gauges are hooked up properly (which is the same as GM cars from the 50s onward), then they will work. Put that out of your mind.

How's the tracking down and correcting of all the PO wiring butchery coming along? Found any particularly humorous pecker tracks? Got all that stuff in that photo above all put back like your newly acquired copy of the Helms FSM shows that it should be?

 

Currently the turn signals DO work with the headlights on now, its just the battery I had in the car was so messed up it couldnt find the voltage to use both at the same time. But I will definetly check out the bulbs just in case because with the headlights on the right turn signal is extremely slow.

Also (I know I did a goof) I purchased a new gauge cluster and the guy said it was from an 86, it had a tach so I could get rid of the old third party tach behind my steering wheel. It was not from an 86, it was not plug and play. And even worse when I plugged back in my old tach the fuel gauge doesnt work anymore, I have a half tank in it but its reading empty. Im hoping it'll fix itself when I fuel the car. Also the clusters lights dont work anymore either so I can no longer drive in the dark. Im hoping the cluster is just bad because as yall said the little screens with the temp, oil, and voltage are all out. Although other than those "fog lights" I actually haven't found too messed up wiring in the car, for the most part (other than that and the ecm "delete") its otherwise pretty factory.

But an off topic issue Ive been having is the temp part under the hood, the piece that connects to the block. Mine is 2 wires with a straight connector and where you should plug it in at looks like a bolt head.

 

The cluster from 86 should work fine in 84. At least, in my 83, I put in a 87 to get the 140 mph speedo back in about 2001 or so, and that worked fine. Plugged right into the car with no modifications whatsoever. Straight-up swap.

I wasn't aware that they had the "RS" model in 84. I seem to recall that there was the Sport Coupe (basically, no badges, just "Camaro"), the Berlinetta which was a more dress-up type of thing, and the Z28. At least that's all there were when I traded in a 79 Z28 I had at the time, on my 83. Seems like the "base" model was the Sport Coupe up to 86, then in 87 they had the "Type LT", then re-introduced the "RS" badges (the RS was the disappearing headlight etc. package in the late 60s) in 88. Butt maybe my memory is foggy? Not that it makes any difference to the matter at hand, just, curious.

 

Forgot to update on that; the dude I bought the camaro from just lied, its a sport coupe with rs stickers on it which I have since removed. The 350 in it is genuine though, his grandad swapped one in (clearly better taste than he has)

And the cluster isn't actually an 86, its something later because when I hooked it up and turned on the car my tach wasnt working, when I used the turn signal my voltage guage would go wild, my fuel guage also wasnt working, and the oil guage was so high if it was real there would be a crater where the car is

 

If it makes you feel any better, when they’re actually working the gauges in these cars don’t tell you all that much 🤣

I’ve also got a later model cluster in my car.

 

If your car didn't come with a tach, then the factory wiring for it might not even be there.

Look at the distributor. There should be a plug with a pink wire, and next to it, one with a white wire for the tach. If that one isn't there, then you'll need to add it; the info in your FSM is adequate to show where it needs to go. No idea whether it's always included in the wiring under the dash or not, I would think so butt don't know for sure.

If the car came with idiot lights then the temp and oil pressure gauge sending units need to be swapped out. Otherwise, with the SUs for lights, the temp gauge will go to full scale when you turn the key to Start ("bulb check"), then go to zero and stay there forever while the key is on. The OP gauge will read zero with the key on and the engine not running, and will go to full scale once it starts up and gets up some oil pressure.

 

Just some cluster info that might be helpful:

The Printed Circuit on the back of the cluster is specific to 82-85 cars, then was changed for the 86-88. The BRAKE warning tell-tale light was moved from far right of the cluster & bezel to the far left, so if the "wrong" Printed Circuit is used there will be a conflict between a back lighting bulb & the / BRAKE warning light. 82-83-84 GAUGES are each "unique" for their year,..... but all (gauge clusters) in that range use the same printed circuit. ( 85-89 all used the same style GAUGES )

82-85 Printed Circuit PN= 25045480
86-89 Printed Circuit PN= 25081605

V6 and V8 Tachometers are different. Your tach will be about 33% off (or maybe it's 25%??) when using the wrong version (V6 vs. V8). The V8 distributor sends 4 pulses per revolution & the V6 sends 3. You can check the Oil Pressure gauge to figure out what Tach you have...... 30/60 = V8 and 40/80 = V6.

Hope that helps !

 

Thank you both for this info! Also the guy I bought it from actually swapped it from a v6 to a 350 v8. And there currently is a working aftermarket tach mounted on the car, I just wanted the analog guages (temp, oil, etc)