what is the plastic film behind the instrument cluster?

[dezdud]

I took out my instrument cluster yesterday because of all these problems i'd been having with the fuel gauge moving with the left turn signal on. while it was still pluged in, but out of the dash, now when i do the turn signal, the gas gauge doesnt move with the turn signals, and now my green indicator turn signal lights work..?? wth? so i unplugged the cluster from the feed harness and am looking at it. theres this thin plastic circuit board looking thingy. and the harness just folds it over when you push it into the socket. Is that how it's supposed to be? is that stock? Looks cheesy as all heck.???

[ItsRandy]

Originally Posted by dezdud

I took out my instrument cluster yesterday because of all these problems i'd been having with the fuel gauge moving with the left turn signal on. while it was still pluged in, but out of the dash, now when i do the turn signal, the gas gauge doesnt move with the turn signals, and now my green indicator turn signal lights work..?? wth? so i unplugged the cluster from the feed harness and am looking at it. theres this thin plastic circuit board looking thingy. and the harness just folds it over when you push it into the socket. Is that how it's supposed to be? is that stock? Looks cheesy as all heck.???

That is a circuit board thingy and that is how it is supposed to work.
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[dezdud]

I wonder if they go bad often? Or if there are good one's versus bad ones? Looks like a assembly line invention that was put into place to speed things up. Looks pretty lame to me. allot of stuff that could be wrong. does it need to be grounded,i wonder??? God I hate electrical.

[ChevLoRay]

Of course it was done to speed up the assembly lines....it's called "progress".

Every connector on that "board" may have some kind of corrosion, however slight it may be. You can use an art gum eraser or one of those used to erase ink from paper and "erase" the contacts on the board. They will look somewhat polished when you're done.

For the connectors on the ends of the harnesses, get some electrical contact cleaner (Radio Shack) and spray it into the connector.

Then, check ALL of your grounding connections. Electricity is like water....it takes the path of LEAST resistance. If it can't flow where it should, it will re-route itself if possible. Your gas guage may be seeking that ground in your turn signal circuit....stranger things have happened.

But, that folding thing? Not normal. Sounds like it is broken. You can get replacement boards.

[weever82]

Here's the link on LMC... The circuit you need will depend on your gauges that you have or don't have.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cb/full.aspx?Page=101

Weev-
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[dezdud]

Ok. Thanks guys. actually. after looking at it closely last night, it looks like one of the copper thingys is burned. Right where it has a mounting stud. it even burned through the plastic there..??

[71swb4x4]

Yes it is common for the circuit board to burn in a spot. I don't mean common as in this happens to every board, simply common like it does happen. They don't last forever.

[weever82]

If its got a burnt spot you better order out a new one and get it working correctly. Least you figured out what it was before you put everything back together and still didn't work.

Weev-
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[dezdud]

Ya, thats gotta be it i bet... I'll get a new one for sure.