Hi Robbie,
got the replacement instruments toiday. Plugged it in all instruments lit up, rev counter worked, odometer worked, ( never tried the speedo), so I swapped the illumination bulbs to blue ( as the car was before) now the rev counter won’t work & no odometer. Just like it started the other day? Tried the old cluster that was working the other day but without any bulbs in & the rev counter etc won’t work in that one now either? I can’t understand this at all. Both the old one & the replacement that came today worked until I swapped to blue bulbs now neither of them will work. I have swapped the new one back to the red bulbs that were in it but no difference & the old one has no bulbs in it at all. Any ideas as I am going up the wall here.
When you say “ illumination bulbs “ are they good old fashioned type of bulb or are they the LED type? Maybe if they’re LEDs it’s causing some problem.
D
Hi Robbie, situation has changed again??? The original dash had blue led’s in that I fitted about 4 years ago. The one that came today had clear with the little red rubbers on to make them red.
Just tried the old/original dash & the rev counter & odometer are working. The one that came today still won’t work but it did before I changed the bulbs (it has got the original ones in now that it came with, old fashoned non led) I’m pretty sure its not the plugs, they both seem fine.
When I swapped the illumination lights in the 2nd dasboard to blue ones, I used a different type of LED than the ones that were in the original dash.Thaought they may be a bit brighter. I am wondering if this had some effect? As I am at the moment, the original dash, the tacho, odometer work, even if I unplug & plug in a few times, they still both work. Obviously the illumination doesn’t work as the board is damaged.
The new one that came today still won’t work, even though it did when it arrived? I have left it for now to see if anything resets itself overnight, as the original one wouldnt work the other day but now it does? It doesn’t make any sense, & I’m an electrician…
How about swapping the internals (Odometer, speedo & tachometer) of one that is currently working into the casing of one of the ones you now have so in theory fitting a non damaged PCB. Forget about the LEDs for now, just try and get 1 fully working instrument cluster.
I might have a look at that tomorrow. I didn’t know you could swap the tacho & speedo? I have already swapped the ododmeter to keep the same cars mileage. That just fits in with 2 plugs & 2 screws from behind.Can the speedo & tacho be swapped over that easily? I think that has to be done from the front by stripping the pod down, (remove perspex, dials etc). The dash that came today seemed to be fully working to start with. I plugged in the 2 outer plugs & the tacho & odometer worked, so I plugged in the middle plug & tried the lights & it lit up red, that was with the ignition off & engine off. I don’t think I tried both tacho & illumination lights at the same time.That was when I swapped the red lighgts for blue led’s, plugged it back in, tried the lights & it lit up blue & then noticed that the odometer didn’t show any mileage, started the engiine & no tacho, which is pretty much wat happened to the one I fit yesterday that I sent back faulty??
I’ve had enough today, I’ll have another go tomorrow.
The tachometer and speedometer just unscrew from the back, 4 screws each from memory. Yes you do need to split the casing but it’s not hard, just in lip the tags. Could it be that the LED bulbs were the original cause as it was the illumination circuit that burned out?
Do not assume LEDs are a direct swap. Bulbs use 12 volts, LEDs without a ballast resistor or some other sort of voltage/current limiter ( either internal or external ) are about 1.6 volts.
If the dash you fitted worked before you put the LEDs in and didn’t after fitting them it sounds like they were not compatible and this has caused some damage.
FIXED IT!!! It was the odometer that was causing the fault. When I tried the replacement cluster, I swapped the odometer to maintain the cars recorded mileage. With the original odometer in, it didn’t work & somehow was preventing the tacho & speedo also from working. Nothing to do with the blue led’s at all. It now has the 2nd replacement cluster fitted, with blue led’s to illuminate it & it has the odometer that it came with & everything works! (Unfortunately this odometer shows 10,000 miles more than the original one, but I think after all the hassle this has given me, I cn live with that. Thanks for all your help, it was very much appreciated.
You’ve been swapping the odometer from cluster to cluster? That’s the microprocessor that controls the speedometer and tachometer so if that’s fault then the speedometer and tachometer are likely not to work…
That is what I was getting at here…
That was what I eventually realised, that is why that odometer is no longer in the cluster. The replacement odometer in now in it & all is well & working. The old odometer is going to be consigned to the bin. thanks again for your help.