Ok so I have replaced the light dimmer switch cleaned all the contacts on the cluster, replaced the lights bulbs and still dont have lights at night to see how fast im going. All I have is turn signal and alt light and thats it. Oh, now that I cleaned the cluster last night my gas gauge stopped working again... Someone mentioned something about the grounds needing to be cleaned, my question is where would the grounds be? Would really love to fix this so I dont have a book light pointing at the speedo.
There are two black wires coming from the cluster connector that go to ground: http://www.1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/pdf/73maverickwiring.pdf The printed circuit provides 12V and ground to the instrument lights. Use a test light to see if you are getting 12V/ground to the appropriate pads that light up the lights: http://www.1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/images/70-73PrintedCircuit.gif
You could always hit it with a hammer!! WAIT!!, you've got an electrical problem.... Sorry couldn't resist, be very careful cleaning the contacts on the back of the cluster, that copper is VERY thin, did you by any chance paint the inside of the cluster white when you had it out? I have had great success using LED lights in my cluster, so when you get it working if it's not bright enough, try some LED's, also I kinda ran into the same problem when I took my cluster out, found out it was a plug right under the steering column had came loose, so look there for a possible problem.
LOL, I was waiting for someone to say that. I will look at all the connections again. Is there anywhere else I should look for loose connections? Could the cluster voltage regulator be the culprit? If so Oreillys sells them still.
I will replace that part and see if my gas gauge will work again. I have already bought and installed a new sending unit and had my gauge working for 4 months until I started messing with the cluster the other day.
Shaneb; when you pull the cluster, check the connector on back, and see if you rolled the foil on the cluster away from the connector. I did that once, and it will kill all the lights, depending on which one rolled away. Just a check, hope it helps.
My copper strips are loose from the board but seated properly. I will glue the copper tabs down so they stay in place. So far I have bought a new light dimmer cleaned all the connections I could see, moved the bulbs around and still not working. The odd thing is my alt, turning lights, oil, heater and windshield wiper lights work, but nothing else.
This it the connector I was talking about.....the one marked in this pic as turn signal connectors, mine was curved a little and against the steering column on the bottom, I guess I had bumped it and it was partially loose.
" shaneb ", just a thought here! Have you checked the fuse? It controls the instrument lights, your heater panel lights, auto trans indicator light, and the ashtray light ( if you have that ). All the other lights in your cluster are on different fuses. I very carefully cleaned my contacts with an ink pen eraser, going only in the direction you would use to put the plug back in. Worked great! I also put a very thin film of dielectric grease on the contacts on both the circuit board and the plug. These are very simple circuits, so it's just a matter of finding out where you lose power to fix it!
My fuse is good, My heater panel lights work off and on if I press really hard on the bulb in the heater panel the light comes on. Theres a ground issue where it touchs the metal in that area. I've tried cleaning it up but cant get it to stay on all the time. I will try the ink pen eraser and see if that helps. Thanks again!
