JTalley Posted January 26, 2013 Report Share Posted January 26, 2013 I took the dash pad off and started looking through that mess, but I didn't find any obvious short circuits. Turned on the key, just to see what would happen, and the spedometer sat at zero. Nothing that would indicate any kind of problems. Turned off the key, then turned it back on. The spedometer went up to 15-20 and hovered around there, and I heard a fast clicking, like a turn signal with one of the bulbs blown, but not as loud. I got up closer and moved around, trying to find this clicking, and it's coming from the guage cluster itself. Is it possible that the cluster itself is bad? How can I tell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTalley Posted February 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 I think I've gone and done it now... I went and got a new cluster from the scrapyard. all they had was the base model without tach, so I got it just to see if it worked. Plugged it in and turned on the car, nothing moved, oil light lit up with right blinker, left blinker clicked fast but lights wouldn't blink. Hooked my old cluster back up and now everything is dead. Lights up with the headlights, but none of the information lights come on, fuel, temp, tach, nothing moves. Any ideas what I broke? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timm Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 I'd wait for someone else to chime in, but to me, it almost sounds like a bad ground or dying battery. I know it's always the last thing on anyone's mind, but even a battery with a dead cell will cause all sorts of strange little problems while still producing (just barely) enough power to start the car. I've seen bad grounds do the strangest things... Just something to keep in mind / look into possibly! -Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTalley Posted February 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 Ok... Here's all my problems that are happening as of right now. Gauges do nothing- just like no power is supplied at all. When the car is running and the headlights are on, it dings. The dash lights still work, and my blinkers are working now, with the old cluster put back in. The information (oil, ses, abs) lights don't light at all. When I turn off my interior light, the dash lights, as well as all the lights on the door locks and what not come on, but only with the doors shut. Open one door, and they all go off. Car will not shift out of first gear when defrost is on. Car surges and will not shift into overdrive with AC on. Erractic shifting. It shifts up into overdrive when I'm barely going 30, but then cycles between 3rd and overdrive. Not a single fuse has blown. This is driving me nuts. I either have a whole mess of short circuits (and I didn't see anything unusual while I was in the dash, not that I could see much, anyway), or some sort of control unit is out, or something. I would love to hear any advice at this point, and some wiring diagrams couldn't hurt either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPE1992GPSE Posted February 1, 2013 Report Share Posted February 1, 2013 Have all of the wacky symptoms you described started after the issue with the gauge cluster started, or did any of them start happening before then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTalley Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 For as long as I've owned the car, the speedometer and heater have interfered with each other, as well as some small lighting issues. Everything else started after I swapped the cluster. Now even with the old gauges back in, none of them work and I have all these other problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTalley Posted February 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 I just went through and took everything apart again. Sure enough, the top is just as I left it- solid looking wires that don't appear to be cut or worn or anything. I decided to dig a little deeper this time, pulled out the heater controls, looked through all that wiring, everything looks good. Here's where the issue comes up. I pulled off the panel just above the pedals and started looking in there... I found this. Half a dozen wires have those yellow clips on them, some are different colors, none of them actually go to anything. That bare wire there was taped up, but two bare wires were coming out of it, so I unwrapped it to see what that was about. They were soldered on there (or it just melted, can't tell) but neither one goes anywhere- it's just that little bit there and no ends. I don't know what all this is about. Does anyone know what that plug is, or have a diagram so I could see what each of those wires do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timm Posted February 2, 2013 Report Share Posted February 2, 2013 I'm going to say it had a remote start system (obviously removed now) but even with that, it shouldn't be causing any interference with anything besides your door locks, parking lights, and if it was a high end one, your starter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTalley Posted February 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 I just found a list of what all the wires do for the gauge cluster. Tomorrow morning I can get after it with my multimeter and see what the deal is, I hope. The sooner I get this resolved, the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTalley Posted February 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 (edited) I checked the 12v wire for power first, and sure enough, it was dead. Just to rule it out, I went through the fuses again. I pulled the "indic" fuse out, and it looked ok. Then I looked a little closer- it had a small split in it. I could barely see it, but it was there. Replaced it, got back power to my gauges. The speedometer on my old cluster pinned out as soon as I turned on the key. The new base cluster will not work with my Euro's wiring, so I can't use it as a test. I do still have the multimeter and pinout diagram. What should the reading be from the speedometer wire in the harness? Somebody said something about 4000 pulses per minute per mph, but I'm still new at this electrical stuff. How do I measure it with the multimeter? Edited February 6, 2013 by JTalley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy K Posted February 6, 2013 Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 You won't be able to measure it with a multimeter. You would need an occiliscope, and that is for the pulses generated by the sensor in the transmission, which is filtered into a voltage reading by the PCM. so you could do a voltage test of the VSS wire..... I suggest you try to find a proper j/y cluster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTalley Posted February 6, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2013 I'm a little confused, this is the way I'm understanding it- The speed sensor is sending out the pulses, which are used by the pcm. The pcm sends a certain voltage to the gauges and that would be what makes the speedometer read out? If that's correct, and I'm not mistaken on any of it, that would mean that I could measure the output of the speedometer wire at the plug for the gauges, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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