Jump to content
SAU Community

Have I Blown My Instrument Cluster?

BXAFTW

By BXAFTW,
in Car Audio & Electrical

 Share

Recommended Posts

BXAFTW Community Regular

BXAFTW

Posted
Posted

last night i took out my instrument cluster to replace the fugly blue led's i had with red ones.. anyway, i have a quick release boss kit for my steering wheel which i took off to make getting the cluster in and out easier, that left the horn button exposed as well as the ring around it which completes the 'ground' (i think) cicuit for the horn.. the 3 plugs at the back of the cluster where as usual a prick to get off and in the process the back of the cluster tapped the horn button and maybe the ring at the same time, which produced a flash and immediate constant beeping from the dash.

i got worried and wanted to see if i'd rooted anything so re-plugged the 2 i'd already taken out back in to the cluster.

long story short.. my cluster lights all work, and the fuel gauge is active, but the rev's, speedo, oil pressure, kilometre counter and the triple gauge cluster are all inactive, but they do all light up, just no actual movement.

also when the cluster is plugged in there is a constant beeping from the dash, which will only stop once i remove the centre white plug..

i think ive fried some of the circuitry in the cluster itself though visually i couldnt see evidence of this. has anyone ever had something similar happen? anybody know what it could be? the only way i can think of finding the problem, is trying another cluster to see if it works, if it does than ive fryed mine, if it doesnt work, then ive just blown a fuse somewhere, or worse the computer.

dont know if im posting in the correct thread but this seems where all the electrical questions go..

im really keen to get this fixed as id had the car apart for some time doing mechanical work and an intense interior detail, and this was the final thing to do before i could drive again. so im spewing that ive got to deal with this now.

any help is as always hugely appreciated.

cheers guys.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/306621-have-i-blown-my-instrument-cluster/
Share on other sites
grandmasterb Grand Master

grandmasterb

Posted
Posted

Unscrew the back of the cluster to get a better look mate, you will soon see if there was any damaged caused. It sounds like you have fried something but to what is hard to say without having a look at it.

BXAFTW Community Regular

BXAFTW

Posted
  • Author
Posted

i took off the black cover that you see in the photo. but no damage was visible..

do you mean take off the black plastic cover then completely disassemble the thing? i was thinking about it, but didnt want to make it any worse.. but seeing as its not working anyway, i might do it tonight.

grandmasterb Grand Master

grandmasterb

Posted
Posted
i took off the black cover that you see in the photo. but no damage was visible..

do you mean take off the black plastic cover then completely disassemble the thing? i was thinking about it, but didnt want to make it any worse.. but seeing as its not working anyway, i might do it tonight.

Yeah mate remove the black cover and expose the circuit board the best you can to see if you have burnt/damaged any of it. Id say that you have and that's causing the "beeping" but whether or not it can be repaired is another thing.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • washandbrew
      Veteran Detailer – Here to Share Tips

      By washandbrew · Posted

      Hey guys, I’m a veteran detailer with years of hands-on experience. I’ll be sharing quick, effective detailing tips to help you keep your Skyline (or any ride) looking its best. Got a question? Fire away!
    • Kinkstaah
      [HOW-TO] Winter Steam-Clean & Odour Removal in 30 min

      By Kinkstaah · Posted

      I guess when I say it's a POS I mean.. the solution and the stuff has the capacity for maybe... 1 spot. You know, as a spot cleaner. What I really *want* is the ability to do an entire car, all upholstery, all carpet, mats, all seats, door card inserts, A pillars, roof liners, etc. In one go. I get lured by all the jank that comes out and think "I'd like to be able to clean to that degree"
    • GTSBoy
      [HOW-TO] Winter Steam-Clean & Odour Removal in 30 min

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      I've got one (not the car one, the domestic spot cleaner one, which is basically the same jobbie) and have driven it hard for hours and hours at a time. Grimy sofas, 6' floor rugs, etc. I'd blame your specific example rather than the whole category. I haven't used mine in the car, because.... you know, it's my car. So there is no-one else's ball sweat in the driver's seat, there's no kid food/drink spills or hand prints inside because they've never had an opportunity to put them there. You know, basic, standard Skyline rules.
    • MBS206
      Rear subframe stay bracket bolt removal issues

      By MBS206 · Posted

      I normally run with I think a 10mm, and definitely use the second handle you can add to a drill. They hurt when they bins up!   For the crush tube, once all subframe is clear, I'd try some stilsons and see if I can get it to start to twist.
    • GTSBoy
      Mistakes were made, my R34 Story

      By GTSBoy · Posted

      Probably because they couldn't, because the use of the variable resistor to create a "signal" in the ECU is managed by the ECU's circuitry. The only way that VDO could do it would be if they made a "smart" sensor that directly created the 0-5V signal itself. And that takes us back to the beginning. Well, in that case, you could do the crude digital (ie, binary, on or off) input that I mentioned before, to at least put a marker on the trace. If you pressed the button only at a series of known integer temperatures, say every 2°C from the start of your range of interest up to whatever you can manage, and you know what temperature the first press was at, then you'd have the voltage marked for all of those temperatures. And you can have more than one shot at it too. You can set the car up to get the oil hot (bypass oil coolers, mask off the air flow to oil coolers, and/or the radiator, to get the whole engine a bit hotter, then give it a bit of curry to get some measurements up near the top of the range.   On the subject of the formula for the data you provided, I did something different to Matt's approach, and got a slightly different linear formula, being Temp = -22.45*V + 118.32. Just a curve fit from Excel using all the points, instead of just throwing it through 2 points. A little more accurate, but not drastically different. Rsquared is only 0.9955 though, which is good but not great. If you could use higher order polynomials in the thingo, then a quadratic fit gives an excellent Rsquared of 0.9994. Temp = 2.1059*V^2 - 34.13*V + 133.27. The funny thing is, though, that I'd probably trust the linear fit more for extrapolation beyond the provided data. The quadratic might get a bit squirrely. Hang on, I'll use the formulae to extend the plots.... It's really big so you can see all the lines. I might have to say that I think I really still prefer the quadratic fit. It looks like the linear fit overstates the temperature in the middle of the input range, and would pretty solidly understate what the likely shape of the real curve would say at both ends.
×
×
  • Create New...