Digital Cluster problem

[phatboy]

I am new to this forum and I have a question which I am sure has been discussed many times before but here it goes.



I am having problems with my digital dash. When I turn the car on the dash will faintly light up and it appears as though all led's get lit and stay lit so it looks like it is full of gas and I am going as fast as possable and reved to the max, the digital speedo shows all 8's.... All the back light bulbs are out. The blinkers work fine.

I have removed the cluster and checked both grounds and they appear to be fine. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[NevadaJim]

First, welcome and you came to the right place for help -- people here are great and very willing to share their expertise and lessons learned.

Second, you are right, this topic comes up constantly. You were on track with checking the ground first, one of the most common problems is the ground, but at the other end. It's been a long time since I fixed one and I'm sure someone else here can confirm this, but one of the first things you might want to try is to run a new ground or re-route the existing one to a better grounding point. There are also other potential fixes for you problem that I'm sure other's will chime in with.

 

[phatboy]

Thanks 87Callaway!

When I removed the cluster I located the two ground wires on the connector. I then spliced them and ran a new ground but that didn't have any effect.
It seems strange, the LED's will light up but the problem is that they are faint and all of them stay lit. Is it possable that the photocell may be bad? Do you know what happnes if I remove the photocell?

 

[BigRed]

Common problem is the bridge connector between the two circut boards.

If you remove the tin backing you will see a 1 inch long by 1/4 inch white plastic bar. If you look under that circut board you'll see the leads go up into that plastic piece and commonly get loose and short out.

Try looking there then CLEAN with emery and alcohol the connections.

 

[Top]

Have you checked the LCD fuse in the fuse box? Simple I know but lots of folks forget about it.

Good Luck!!

 

[phatboy]

BigRed, I re-soildered the pins on the connector and cleaned them. I looked at all the other pins and everything looks good except where the four back lights connect to the board it looks a little burned. As I mentioned I cleaned everything I could then put it all together.
When I plugged it back in to the car I got a very different result.

Now the display will not light up at all (at first) but when I put on my blinkers the speedo flashes with the blinker??? Then when I turn off the blinkers random LED’s will stay lit.


Top, the LED fuse was bad, I put a new fuse in and it didn't help. However once in awhile the fuse will blow again. I don't know if it has anything to do with my plugging and un-plugging the cluster in.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ken Anderson]

Your cluster has an internal short and will have to be bench tested and repaired.

 

[RedRagTop]

http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43539&highlight=dash+lights

 

[Alfonso Gomez]

Check the people at: www.unitedradio.com
They fixed my cluster some years ago and it works fine.

 

[phatboy]

I know the price must vary but what should I expect to pay to have the cluster fixed?

 

[Alfonso Gomez]

I know the price must vary but what should I expect to pay to have the cluster fixed?

Mine had three panels burned out & had to be replaced. That and miscellaneous cleaning and resoldering of some parts, and they charged $430 post paid to Puerto Rico by UPS. They gave me a 1 year warranty. Turn around time was 5 days. Great service. But that was 4 years ago so the prices will definitely vary. They will probably give you an estimate before proceeding with the repair. E-mail them, you got nothing to lose except the shipping charges.
I think MidAmerica Motorworks & Corvette Central have a repair service but I think it is way more expensive and takes longer. Check them out.
Good luck.

 

[phatboy]

Thanks for the info! I will be emailing them today.
I also agree, MidAmerica has always been $$$ for most things.