No brake lights, dash lights, and guages dont work.

[Jah]

I baught a 1984 cutlass Calais that I just got done putting a Chevy 350 into last night. But on my drive home, I realized these things did not work. That was the first time I have drove the car so I do not know if they worked before the engine swap.
When I turn on my lights, the lights in the back of the car light up, but when I hit the brake, nothing. I've checked the fuses and they all work (both sides). Also my interior lights work, just not the dash. I can use the dimmer to turn them on, but its either on or off. No real dimming. But all my exterior lights work perfect except for the brake lights.
None of my gauges work except for the battery, and gas. Also my speedometer is really bouncy. Bounces around like 10mph constantly and makes a little clicking noise. I'm going to pull out the instrument cluster tonight to see if i can find something to fix this but can someone tell me what some common reasons for this is or what I should be looking for? Hopefully I don't need to buy a new cluster... or I'm putting in a digital dash if I do.
Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks

 

[david]

hey dude
i would first check your grounds from the battery to the fender and the one that comes off the back of the head the fire wall, besides that get some wiring diagrams, your speedometer cable needs to be taken out and remove the inner cable and lube with atf and white grease.
good luck

 

[pontiacman469]

Bet u forgot the ground strap in the rear of the motor going from the firewall to the block.grounds can be weird...

 

[supercrackerbox]

+1 on the ground straps. You can never have too many.

Also if you live in the rust belt, the wiring and sockets to the back lights have a tendency to corrode really bad if exposed to the road salt. It's possible that the secondary filaments on the brake bulbs are just burned out. For the trouble to take them out and check, I'd just throw new bulbs in anyway. Another possibility is the brake switch is bad or out of adjustment. It should be located under the dash near the top of your brake pedal.

As for the dash lights, I'm not positive. Dimmer switch possibly?

 

[Jah]

Ok, thanks. I'll check those tomorrow. I had the brake lights working for a second, so I decided to drive and try to find a replacement t-top (if anyone knows where to get them, I definitely need to know) and found out that my rear driver wheel cylinder was dead... Going like 45 and finding out you don't have any brakes is not fun. So I replaced the driver side one (will do passenger side tomorrow) with one from an S-10. So in the morning I have to do the other one, flush out the brake line (found out its blocked somewhere too), then try to get the taillights and other stuff working...
Good thing I didn't have anything else to do tomorrow, I guess. Hopefully I can get all of it fixed.

 

[Jah]

I haven't even been able to look at anything else, I went out trying to find a t-top replacement... no luck...
Got home and decided to go ahead and switch the passenger rear wheel cylinder. But I've been working on this for like the last hour and CAN NOT get the back clips in... I would really love to have some bolt-on cylinders right now. I quit trying for now, but I start work monday and if my car isn't running then I cant make it... not an option...
So anyone have some tips on getting these clips on?

 

[dan2286]

For the dash lights, have you tried tried hitting the dimmer switch? Mine does the same thing sometimes and a smack to the switch will temporarily make it work. I have a new one to put in but I am lazy. 8)

 

[Jah]

Can someone please show me where the speedometer cable is?
I'm trying to remove my cluster to clean the connections, and the instructions I'm looking at say to push the speedometer cable inside of the grommet. Problem is, I cant find it. I've tried pushing things in to see if I get any more movement to the cluster but I don't. I'm scared to just pull the cluster until it comes out because I might break something.

 

[78pontiac]

if you have all your screws out you should be able to pull on cluster and it come out so you can get to the cable or you should be able to reach back behide it and push the clip in and the cable slide out thats how i done it

 

[Jah]

if you have all your screws out you should be able to pull on cluster and it come out so you can get to the cable or you should be able to reach back behide it and push the clip in and the cable slide out thats how i done it

It'll slide a little bit, but will not come out. I cant get my hand in enough to unclip the wire either... I'm getting frustrated. I wish I would have taken a mechanic with me when I baught this car. Haven't really even been able to drive it around yet 🙁