dash cluster woes

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by fastlane

well I picked up a multimeter, and the resistor on the temp gauge is at 83.6 ohms, and between the posts that attach to the PCB its 50 ohms. does that mean its shorted out?

No, those sound like fairly normal readings. If it were shorted out you'd be seeing a much lower reading ... zero or close to it.

However, you should also use your multimeter to check the resistance from the cluster case (ground) to each of the temp gauge's posts as VetteVet & Ben mentioned. Only the silver ground post should have a direct connection to the case ground.

Originally Posted by fastlane

the temp sending unit is at 1.3ohms but thats cold (27-30* in the garage) I did realize there is teflon tape on the gauge, I will remove that asap, and see what happens.

That 1.3Ω reading sounds like you have a defective sending unit. It should be approximately 520Ω at 100°F and only decrease in resistance as the temperature increases.
I don't think the teflon tape is causing your problem ... if anything, that would increase the resistance and make the gauge read too low.

Originally Posted by fastlane

I'm really not sure what to do with the battery gauge, and how to wire it! trouble shooting electronics makes my head hurt!

Well, you've got a decision to make on that one. You could either:

(A) Keep the existing battery gauge and wire it up exactly as shown in the diagram VetteVet posted earlier. Be aware that the routing and wire gauge of the battery charge wire is important since it also serves as the ammeter's shunt. And the two 4 amp inline fuses circled on the diagram are important too.

(B) Convert to a 1976-up voltmeter as I mentioned earlier. The voltmeter can simply be hooked up to the temperature gauge's existing power & ground connections.