Yet another dead gauge thread

[1buckeyefan1]

I've been debugging my gauge cluster all day and am at wits end.. I just got my explorer swap on the road and almost immediately lost my fuel, temp, and oil pressure gauges.

When I first started it up, my fuel gauge was good, and the coolant/oil gauges pegged. Then they went dead and I can't seem to get them working again.

I've tested/swapped my IVR and it seems to be working properly. 12v at the lead, pulsating on the outbound, tested while in the cluster, grounded.

My oil will go to about 10 and coolant to 120 and pretty much stop. Fuel doesn't budge

I'm pretty sure the IVR is doing its job. It's a new Tom's gauge cluster. I had a similar issue initially when i tried using a new Dennis Carpenter IVR and re-using my original IVR seemed to solve it at the time. But whatever gremlin I suppressed is back again.

I also ran a new ground wire to the back of the cluster, using the IVR screw.

Any thoughts on what to test next?

 

[DirtDonk]

What sending units are you using? The ones for the explorer computer, or the ones original to a bronco?

 

[1buckeyefan1]

What sending units are you using? The ones for the explorer computer, or the ones original to a bronco?

For coolant/oil - Original for bronco. replaced with new ones and was getting good readings from external gauges.

For fuel - i went with the vertical slide unit that I think Nick did a group buy on a few years back. Seemed to work pretty well at first, but now a zombie.

Has to be some sort of issue with a ground or gauges. Back at it today if anyone has an idea of what to test next.

 

[Speedrdr]

Almost sounds like a dead short that’s killing/killed some of the gauges, but that would be too obvious and I’d bet you checked for that. That’s all I can thnk of.

Randy

 

[DirtDonk]

Was the vehicle painted recently?
Usually that becomes a problem with grounding the dash, but you should have cured any possibility of that with your direct ground to the cluster. So I’m not quite sure where to look next.
Still thinking on it though…

 

[1buckeyefan1]

Was the vehicle painted recently?
Usually that becomes a problem with grounding the dash, but you should have cured any possibility of that with your direct ground to the cluster. So I’m not quite sure where to look next.
Still thinking on it though…

yep, the dash was painted recently. I thought for sure i'd fix it by running a ground wire directly from the battery post to the rear of the IVR bolt. No luck.

I did ground a few of the gauges out and can get them to peg. But for example, the oil pressure gauge will go to 10 when running. It has life, but seems 'muted'

I'm pretty sure when i got it first started up, something moved/changed. I was tucking away the wires for the lights, etc.. but no blown fuses so I don't have any visible evidence of a dead short.

 

[1buckeyefan1]

yep, the dash was painted recently. I thought for sure i'd fix it by running a ground wire directly from the battery post to the rear of the IVR bolt. No luck.

I did ground a few of the gauges out and can get them to peg. But for example, the oil pressure gauge will go to 10 when running. It has life, but seems 'muted'

I'm pretty sure when i got it first started up, something moved/changed. I was tucking away the wires for the lights, etc.. but no blown fuses so I don't have any visible evidence of a dead short.

So I hooked up my old gauge cluster, IVR and grounded it. Oil pressure is working fine. So it's definitely related to something in the dash.

 

[Speedrdr]

You should KNOW that the problem is gonna be in the least accessible area and require assuming the least comfortable position to work on. You know, Murphy’s Law??

Randy

 

[1buckeyefan1]

Almost sounds like a dead short that’s killing/killed some of the gauges, but that would be too obvious and I’d bet you checked for that. That’s all I can thnk of.

Randy

I think this might be the answer. As I was messing with loosening/tightening the gauge cluster from the dash, I got them to come back to life for a short bit, then got sparks near the ignition. Once I let my hand off the allen wrench did it quit. I think I was grounding the dash to the earth. Now to figure out the source of the short?

 

[1buckeyefan1]

So here's where I made it today. If I loosen up the gauge cluster from the dash, i can get a good reading with key on. I attached a picture of the fuel gauge with key on. Once I press it up to the dash, it starts going down. Push it out of dash and I get a good reading.

 

[cldonley]

So here's where I made it today. If I loosen up the gauge cluster from the dash, i can get a good reading with key on. I attached a picture of the fuel gauge with key on. Once I press it up to the dash, it starts going down. Push it out of dash and I get a good reading.

Sounds like there is something shorted inside your cluster that grounds out when you firmly anchor it to the dash. Maybe disconnect one gauge at a time and see if you can isolate a faulty gauge? Or look behind the instrument panel for a wire caught between the cluster and the dash. Maybe it'll be something super simple...