guage cluster questions

[mstrgrn]

Hello,
I recently bought a guage cluster from a swap meet. It looked in fairly good shape, so i figured i would replace mine, since nothing worked and it was pretty much junk. The problem i have now, is that when i install it, the blinkers run the temp guage and high beam light, and everything is weird.

Could this be a short in that plasic board on the back?
Or are these varying from year to year, and i just bought the wrong part?

by the way i have a 72, and it had all of the same guages as the one that was in my truck...

thanks in advance

[shifty]

i know if you're swapping from 3-gauge to 7-gauge dash (or whatever), you gotta rewire the harness. you can fry out the gauge cluster by doing this. there are instructions on various websites on how to reqire, someone is bound to have a link.

[panhandler62]

The info poublished at GMCPauls website is very, very helpful. I just finished a swap from a 3-hole I-Light cluster to a 7 hole (standard full gauge) cluster.

There was a little tedium to the process and I made two mistkes that made it more difficult for me, but joy was had in the end..

Note 1: Lable all of the wires before you push the pins out of the socket -- some wire colors vary from one harness to another and some colors are not all that different after 30+ years of age. Being able to identify where the wire was in the original location will help a bunch when you go to put them all back.

Note 2: You don't use the old I-Lite wire for the ammeter, you need to run two new wires as shown in the help chart.

Tips page at GMCPauls : http://www.gmcpauls.com/Tech%20Tips1.htm

[4tiresngas]

If you had a gauge cluster before, it may be the printed circuit baord on the back of the dash. You can use a multimeter to chech for continuity and shorts. Your other printed circuit board may be fine...just bad gauges, also.