Gauge cluster quit working

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Need some help.
My gauge cluster just stopped working. No needles move. Car still starts and drives. Checked all fuses and connections to the cluster. All look good.
Out side grounds looks good. Any idea what might be going on? Prior to this everything worked fine.
 

Accordx

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Did you take out the gauge cluster and put it back in or did this just happen when you started up the car?
 

Varnell

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I didn't tighten the screws tight enough one time and the needles would bounce around like they were getting tazed. Sounds like your cluster is fried, though.
 

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I didn't tighten the screws tight enough one time and the needles would bounce around like they were getting tazed. Sounds like your cluster is fried, though.

I hope not. Car only has 166K on it and to get a cluster with low miles will be hard to get .
 

glittleman

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Try banging the dash real hard. Just raise your hand above your head like, Lord have mercy. And bring it down hard like, Leave you spawn of Satan.

That's what works for me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk
 

SupraGuy

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Pull the instrument cluster, there are a series of wiring harnesses that plug into the top. The wires get pulled to some pretty tight angles, and I suspect that the contacts for the pins aren't the most secure. My seatbelt warning works maybe 1/3 of the time when I get into the car, and sometimes the temperature gauge will drop to full cold after hitting a bump on the highway. (Another bump will have it back up and working again.)

I've fixed one of the other harnesses (Instrument lights would go out) before, looks like I need to do it again. Disconnect the harnesses. Each wire terminates with a contact that is sort of a rolled up piece of tin. Use a jeweler's screwdriver to pry the contact a little larger, so that there's a little bit of force keeping the contact touching its counterpart in the cluster. This ought to fix the problem and keep things working like they should.

Edit: Pin B16 appears to be the signal ground, which is the most likely single wire which would cause this problem.
 
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Connie

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I have had 2 clusters go bad in my parts cars. It happens a lot in my experience. I have a spare cluster right now if you want it, works great but shows 412000km. Your best bet is probably to hit up the scrapyard though. I have found the 2002 EXV6 clusters (fancy ones) to be the most problematic. I am hoping the one I have in there now doesn't die before I make 500,000km.....only 39000km to go! lol.
 
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