Question: Can I drive without an instrument cluster?

[vdogamr]

Can I drive my Corvette without the digital instrument cluster in the car?

This isn't a question of legality, I assume it is illegal to drive without a speedometer. This isn't a question of saftey, I assume it is stupid to drive without a readout. This is a question of, "Is it alright for the car"? I have been told the the Corvette is very particular about voltages and was wondering if it would cause any problems to anything if the cluster was not installed.

Why would I do this? Because I am repairing the cluster at work with a friend, and I want to have the car there to test the cluster when the time comes.

 

[tonylong]

I did exactly the same thing. Never noticed any problems. I also had the dash pad, DIP, radio. and console out too. Got lotsa strange looks from passersby though. Car looked real "empty" for a while.

 

[vdogamr]

So this question was a while ago, and I did end up driving my car without the cluster.

I drove it about 25 miles to work and about a mile or two away the check engine light came on. At the end of the day I hadn't had time to fix the cluster so I thought I would drive to the shop and have them check out the check-engine problem while I fixed my cluster. I could barely drive the car there. Aditional check lights started comming on and the car ran like crap. There were several problems with the car, but the one that I think might be relevant is the O2 sensor was dead.

Now I don't know if any of this was the fault of driving without the Cluster or just the fact that until recently my car could have been politely classified as a fixer-upper . But I have been looking into building and programming my own digital cluster (with cool new graphics) and I have discovered, from reading section 8 of the FSM, that the cluster gets the signal from the speed sensor, processes it, and then sends a speed signal to the ECM. With the cluster removed then no signal would have gone to the ECM. I am not sure what that would have done, but it sounds bad. Doesn't the ECM need to know how fast the car is going for proper operation of other systems?

Well that is my story. If anyone knows more about the cluster's role in the operation of the Corvette, I would like as much information as possible.

 

[vetteoz]

With the cluster removed then no signal would have gone to the ECM. I am not sure what that would have done, but it sounds bad. Doesn't the ECM need to know how fast the car is going for proper operation of other systems?

More to do will fueling when you back off, ECM does not know car is still in motion when you release the throttle.
And the TCC lockup is controlled by road speed inputs.