Digital Dash Ground Wire Woes

[Randys88Vette]

Hi everyone! Well, I have read all the articles and the repair/troubleshooting for the Digital Dash posted here, and followed the links to sites with good info. I have researched this online as well. I have come to the conclusion that it is indeed a ground problem on my dash. The dash will come on most of the time, but goes out for awhile, stays out, then will come on again, or not until the next time I start the car.
Which brings me to the all imprtant quetion---where is this ground wire?:confused It comes through the firewall on the drivers side (?) and attaches to what? I have looked in the looms (4 of them) on the drivers near the windshield wiper motor and down near the back of the engine, by the valve cover. I cannot find that "black" ground wire. What does it attach to? I have been using an inspection mirror and flashlight, and have been loking in the looms, near the brake booster also. Most of the wires I have found, are part of a connector that runs to some other component. I would like to troubleshoot this and make sure it is not a ground problem, before I dish out the $$ for a repair, only to find it still has the same problem afterwards. Can anyone give me a good idea of where it is exactly? Its an 88 Vette. Thanks everyone.

 

[Hrtbeat1]

On my 90 there are a lot of ground connections on the only stud connecting the tranny to the engine. There may be more along the path but one of these is the braided strap that is normally used for primary ground.

This stud is located near the top of the tranny on the drivers side. It has a nut and washer the others should just be bolt heads.

Hope this helps.

 

[Ken Anderson]

The transmission is one and the other is under the battery

 

[Dcalebaugh]

Had the same problem with my 86. I did the ground fix that is reccomended by cutting into the ground at the cluster and running a wire to a new ground post. It did not work. I believe that mine and many others is an internal problem in the cluster. I fixed mine by removing one of the lamps in the cluster, pushing a solid copper wire into the slot between the pinhole for the lamp and the copper tab that makes contact between the lamp socket and the cluster and ran that wire to a new ground point. It was quick and painless. The lighting came back on and the dimming feature was still functional. I have more detailed instructions should you choose to try this.


Dave

 

[Top]

Dave did you run a new ground on Both wires? D1 and D3? Sounds like you missed D3 the first time and your fix finally grounded the D3 ground, the ambient override sensor ground.

Randy there is no Black ground wire from the dash thru the firewall to the bell housing. It is Black with a white Stripe. You can get to it under the dash on the firewall. This is D3 on the 32 pin cluster. The D1 ground, is solid black and runs to the driver's door pillar post and is grounded there.

I soldered my D1 and D3 together to a new ground wire and went to the pillar post. It fixed mine. Try it if you want. Pull the cluster and cut D1 and D3 and run a new ground. You'll know then for sure if you have internal dash problems.

Good Luck

 

[Dcalebaugh]

Yeah I also solder them together with no luck. It's a solder joint inside the cluster that is bad, so you can add all the grounds you want to the wires leading to the cluster but it does not make it through the joint on the inside. Thats why I back fed a ground from a known good point, the lamp socket.

 

[Top]

Ahhh,

Got ya.

 

[berky2500]

It took retouching about 40 solder joints on the power supply board to fix the dash on my 85, the external ground wouldn't have helped in my case either.