Ralley pac gagues repair.....anyone?
- Thread starter 84cutlass383
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I had problems with mine this past summer.
Symptoms:
1. Battery not charging because the voltmeter was not connecting
2. No idea how much gas I had left
3. no illumination of gauges
I figured out it was not the gauges themselves, or any wiring on the harness. Also, the printed circuit board was in near prefect condition.
The problem was where the printed board presses into the dash. No matter what I did I could not get the little prongs aligned right and all even so the flat printed board would mate correctly. Eventually I took the whole gauge pod inside and used a soldering iron and some solder and made little "nubs" on the end of each circuit path where they rest on the prongs in the dash. I just heated up the solder enough to "drip" a little bit onto the tip of copper flaps. I made sure each drop was about the same size and all lined up. I installed the pod back into the dash and everything worked perfectly and no more short circuits.
Symptoms:
1. Battery not charging because the voltmeter was not connecting
2. No idea how much gas I had left
3. no illumination of gauges
I figured out it was not the gauges themselves, or any wiring on the harness. Also, the printed circuit board was in near prefect condition.
The problem was where the printed board presses into the dash. No matter what I did I could not get the little prongs aligned right and all even so the flat printed board would mate correctly. Eventually I took the whole gauge pod inside and used a soldering iron and some solder and made little "nubs" on the end of each circuit path where they rest on the prongs in the dash. I just heated up the solder enough to "drip" a little bit onto the tip of copper flaps. I made sure each drop was about the same size and all lined up. I installed the pod back into the dash and everything worked perfectly and no more short circuits.
jmt455 said:
Temp gauges doesnt even read, oil pressure works when it wants to, gas gague only works when i fill up, but after a drive or too its a guessing game, volt meter always reading super low but i did the voltmeter test and its charging fine. I think the only thing that works fine is the tach, but when i turn on my headlights the tach drops to 1k and stays there.
All of those items could be due to corroded grounds.
Temp gauge could be sending unit. People often install the wrong sending unit (for the non-gauge cluster) and the gauge won't work unless/until the coolant temp gets to the switch point for the "Hot" light to come on.
Tach fluctuation is normally just the loose jumper...pretty simple repair.
http://tech.oldsgmail.com/eint_tach_fix.php
Fuel gauge issues are usually traceable to bad ground at the sending unit OR a bad sending unit.
Voltmeter sounds flaky, but again it could be a grounding problem.
Do you have the Factory Service Manual for your car?
There are very good diagnostic procedures in the Electrical section for all of this.
Here are a couple of potentially helpful links:
http://oldsmagnet.oldsgmail.com/GuageFix.htm
http://tlentz.oldsgmail.com/howto.html#gauge
If you don't have the FSM, send me a PM with your email address and I'll email the diagnostic information to you.
JoeT
Temp gauge could be sending unit. People often install the wrong sending unit (for the non-gauge cluster) and the gauge won't work unless/until the coolant temp gets to the switch point for the "Hot" light to come on.
Tach fluctuation is normally just the loose jumper...pretty simple repair.
http://tech.oldsgmail.com/eint_tach_fix.php
Fuel gauge issues are usually traceable to bad ground at the sending unit OR a bad sending unit.
Voltmeter sounds flaky, but again it could be a grounding problem.
Do you have the Factory Service Manual for your car?
There are very good diagnostic procedures in the Electrical section for all of this.
Here are a couple of potentially helpful links:
http://oldsmagnet.oldsgmail.com/GuageFix.htm
http://tlentz.oldsgmail.com/howto.html#gauge
If you don't have the FSM, send me a PM with your email address and I'll email the diagnostic information to you.
JoeT
Could be the printed circuit. I had issues with all my gauges even though all my grounds and senders were good. I replaced my printed circuit at the back of the gauges and they all work properly now. Check for little cracks in the circuit with a bright flashlight. Also sometimes the connecters on the back of the gauges need adjustment. That's my two sense on gauges.
Jory
Jory
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