Chasing electrical short

jaystcb

jaystcb

Sy 0902, 92Ty 0909
Symptoms:

(Does not matter if the vehicle is runnung or in acc.)

1) dome light switch OFF, Head light switch OFF, fog light OFF = cluster normal operation untel the passenger blinker is turned on. then factory boost gage jumps 0 to +15 in sequence with the blinker. driver blinker is nornal

2) dome light switch OFF, Head light switch ON, fog light OFF = cluster normal operation untel the passenger blinker is turned on. then factory boost gage jumps 0 to +15 in sequence with the blinker. driver blinker is normal.

3) dome light OFF to ON with head light switch ON= Tach fluctuation with amount of dome light applied.

4) 20a fuse pulled out of "t/l ctsy", Boost gage still fluctuates with passenger blinker. But besides that everything else opperates as factory.

I know there is a short somewhere??? I replaced the headlight/dome switch with no luck. I also checked ground wires that I knew of.

Does anyone have any suggestions pn where to look? My only other idea was to pull the dash and check everything.
 
jaystcb

jaystcb

Sy 0902, 92Ty 0909
Re: Chasing electrical short

Thank you Dave. I believe it is only the passenger side blinker. But, I will check as soon as I get home.
 
jaystcb

jaystcb

Sy 0902, 92Ty 0909
Re: Chasing electrical short

Ok. I ran a temporary ground from the lighter socket to a ground. I also ran a temporary ground from motor ground to the frame with no change. The front passenger parking light bulb is dim with switch on and gets brighter when blinker is engaged.

With all switches off and the Right blinker engaged. Boost gage jumps with blinker.

same with headlights on.

same with headlights and foglights on.

same with headlights off and dimmer on full.

-----------------

Now Headlights and right blinker on. Boost gage fluctuates with blinker. Now slowly adding dimmer from off to full on. boost goes to full, RPM Gage drops to 0. and green arrow and highbeam dash light alternate.

I tried to upload to photobucket. but took too long. So I uploaded to Facebook video.
https://www.facebook.com/284076871642693/videos/1095881133795592/
 
jaystcb

jaystcb

Sy 0902, 92Ty 0909
Re: Chasing electrical short

I pulled the gage cluster out. There are a couple spots that are delaminated but the circuit does not appear to be broken. I used a multimeter to test for continuety. I also used a 9v battery to bench test the lamp circuit. Is there anything else I can look for?



 
Last edited:
jaystcb

jaystcb

Sy 0902, 92Ty 0909
Re: Chasing electrical short

Ok. I will. And it does look like it has been taken apart before. 3 of the screws where not tightened down and there are a lot of broken/cracked tabs. I will check it again and let you know. THANKS Dave.
 
jaystcb

jaystcb

Sy 0902, 92Ty 0909
Re: Chasing electrical short

Ok. After rechecking. I found a hairline crack in one of the connections and it would sometimes make enough contact for me not to notice it. So last night I disassembled the cluster, removed the printed circuit, soldered it back together, and now Im in process of putting it back together. One thing I found is the return lever for the trip odometer was broken and I want to replace it. Is this a general part that is in any junkyard gage cluster out of a jimmy or blazer? Also I want to add led's to the cluster to keep the heat off of the printed circuit. I will make another post about that.

Thank You DaveP.











 
jaystcb

jaystcb

Sy 0902, 92Ty 0909
Re: Chasing electrical short

So... because I'm waiting on bulbs. I desided to dork around with the trip odomiter. As it turns out. That Harbor Freight spring kit I bought 5 years ago finally got some use. I modified one end of the spring and hooked it to the housing. The other end, I just looped around the reset rod. It works great. But, Most likley I will go to the junk yard a get another reset switch. Here are some pictures to kill time and look at.















 
jaystcb

jaystcb

Sy 0902, 92Ty 0909
Re: Chasing electrical short

Ok, I repaired the bad circuit and installed all the led's. Everything looked good. I also did a pre-assembly check by mounting the cluster in the truck and checked all the lights. Everything looked good until I started the truck. The only problem I can see is the check engine light is bairly lit. Let me explain. At key on. the check engine light is on (BRIGHT) (normal). After starting the truck. The light goes from bright to dim. The light is only dim when the truck is running.


Key on, engine off. (Normal) The giant orange blurr is the check engine. LED's are too bright for my camera.



Key on, engine on. dim check engine light.
 
T

turbo_tuna

New member
Re: Chasing electrical short

So did this resolve your issue? What exactly needed to be soldered. I am seeing a similar issue, but it happens when I switch on my parking or headlights. Also moving the dimmer changes the boost gage as well. It's as if the dash light energy is bleeding into the boost gage. I check the printed circuit and did not see any issues.
 
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