annoying buzzer, batt light, and temp gauge questions

[LanceB]

Well after changing my carb setup this weekend and eliminating some emissions stuff, a buzzer coming from the interior and the battery light go off and on in relation to my acceleration on my 81....I just want to disconnect these for now if possible because I am sure this is related to the way the carb is setup. But it is running so good I don't want to change anything with the carb right now.

Also my temperature gauge has been the same for three years, no matter what the temp outside and whether I just start or have been driving while. My oil temp fluctuates with the engine temp which looks normal as this gauge reads hotter after driving for awhile. This was before the carb work, but trying to figure this gremlin out too. I am wondering if the temp gauge is inaccurate/not functioning because it should be cold when I first start it. Another issue is my rpm gauge has been bouncing around for years, but I am sure that is a more complicated issue.
Any help or advice is appreciated!:confused

 

[black_81_vette]

sounds like the dash ground is bad or you may have a printed circuit board going bad. mine was green with corrosion caused the same troubles

 

[raybies]

Lance
I'm almost certain your experiencing the same problem i had.
I dont know whetther you've had the center console guage panel out or not but here's what happened to me.
I had the guage console out and found that where the main plug connects to the plastic circuit panel that the little copper fingers on the plastic circuit panel had come un bonded and were shorting out, which gave me all kinds of erratic guage readings. I wasnt able to find a replacement circuit panel so I ended up hardwiring all the guages.
Anyway maybe someone in the forum has a lead on a circuit panel should that be your case but thats where i'd look.

 

[LanceB]

Thank you for the information. I also have a fuse popping too (the one for the parking lights and dash lights), wonder if a faulty circuit panel could affect that also. Was it difficult to hard wire all of that stuff? I finally got the 81 looking and running good, now the electric problems are surfacing.

 

[raybies]

Lance
Yes more than likely what I spoke about is the problem with your fuse popping also. What I found when i pulled my circuit panel out was that the little copper fingers had come un bonded and were literally laying over one and other. I tried to glue them back on to the circuit panel and that was a total waste of time. As far as hardwiring it, well Its all a matter of tracing all those little copper pieces in the board from a terminal to a wire on the plug, then splicing a wire from there back to the proper guage terminal. If your not good with that sort of stuff I would suggest that you NOT try it. What I would do in your case is first pull the center guage console out and visually inspect the circuit board where the main plug goes in. This means pulling the center guage cluster all the way out of the car. Its not really all that hard. If it is a bad circuit panel I would post a thread on here and see if anyone knows where to get one or go to a site called contemporary corvettes. Its a strickly Corvette boneyard here in Pa. I'm sure they could ship it to you.
http://www.contemporarycorvette.com/ theres the link.
Good Luck
Ray

 

[LanceB]

Awesome. I just called there and they have a new one for $89. I am sure this would be better than trying to hard wire from what you are telling me. Wonder how difficult it is to install a new circuit board. I guess I just need to go slow and remember what screws go where. At least I don't have to take the dash out. Wonder if there is a good way to verify this is the problem before I buy the part?

 

[raybies]

Lance
You do have to take out the center guage cluster, however the circuit panel itself is no big deal what so ever. its just unplug the bulbs, unbolt the plastic circuit panel and replace it. 2 things to keep in mind and for this i would just get a pencil and paper and make a little drawing. there are blue and gray colored bulb sockets on the panel the gray ones have to go back in the place they came out of. And the one bulb is for your low fuel light it has to go back where you found it. It has a small circuit board attached to the light socket about the size of a quarter. the second thing is that the nuts have to go back on the right posts because GM uses some dead post that go to nothing. Like i said just make a simple drawing and use the old printed circuit panel as reference you'll be able to see where the nuts were and where not to put them from looking at the old one.
Again good luck and I hope I've helped you.
Oh and P.S. if your clock doesn't work now would be the time to replace it, I replaced mine with a digital from ecklers.
No moving parts.
Ray

 

[LanceB]

Drawings definitely help. I will heed your advice. I don't have a clock in mine...I have the oil temp gauge which looks to be working.