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Date:         Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:04:28 -0600
Reply-To:     Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Help troubleshoot my instrument cluster
Comments: To: mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net>
In-Reply-To:  <49A0D4D2.1070006@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Mark, what about the 83s?

Jim

On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 10:30 PM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote: > VW combined many instrument cluster items to a single ground wire on the > 14 pin connector. Then they combined that single ground wire with a > bunch of other dash ground wires all into one final wire which then runs > to the main ground star. When everything was working fine, say for 15-20 > years, this combined ground system was ok. Now we are past that point. > > You likely have a bad ground for the instrument cluster. When a ground > gets flaky, some of the anxious electrons look for another path to get > home. Sometimes they try to flow backwards into a wire for something > else if that looks like their best escape route. That can make other > things on those escape routes act screwy. > > The first simple step is to put the instrument cluster on a dedicated > ground wire. Just cut the brown wire to pin 3 of the 14 pin connector, > leaving a few inches. Splice some more wire to the cut end that is now > hanging from the 14 pin connector. Put a ring end on it. Screw that ring > down to bare metal in the dash area. Hopefully in a spot where it will > be noticed if someday in the future someone is checking out another > problem with the ground. You don't need to do anything with the other > cut end of the brown wire going down into the dash. Tape it off if it > makes you feel better but do not attach it to anything. > > (pin 3 of the 14 pin connector is only the ground wire for 85-91 > clusters, and the rare 84 tach cluster) > > If that step does not solve the problems the biggest thing left is the > spring pins in the 14 pin connector itself. They can loose their tension > or get bent from being plugged in and out. If you look closely into the > open edge at the spring pins you can see if the brown wire's pin has a > problem. With care and good light you can put a touch more curve in the > pin so it sticks up into the opening slightly more to make stronger > contact. This will make the curved edge a tighter fit when it is plugged > back onto the cluster. > > Mark > > James Ballen wrote: >> >> Hey folks, >> >> Hopefully some collective wisdom from the group can help me figure out >> what's going on with my instrument cluster wiring. >> >> I have an '86 wolfsburg weekender that came with an analog clock cluster. >> PO installed a cluster from an '85 w/a tach. >> Everything works except a few things: >> >> -the coolant temp sensor does not work with the headlight switch turned >> on. I had the boys at Buslab fix this about a year ago...Marco told me it >> was a shorted wire somewhere...and it worked fine until the other day when >> it started happening again. Pin #6 on my dash connector (coolant temp >> sensor) has a wire butt-spliced onto it that goes down to the back, bottom >> left of the fuse/relay box. I can't tell exactly what it's plugged into, >> but I think it's a relay. Not sure why it's spliced, but it was working >> fine until a couple days ago. Temp accuracy was verified with an infared >> temp gun. >> >> -once the coolant system is nearly up to operating temp, the tach sits up >> around 4k. Once the engine is revved up to ~1800 the tach then reads >> accurately. As soon as it goes back to idle, the needle shoots back up to >> 4k. While it's warming up, the needle reads accurately around 900 at idle, >> but introducing other electrical loads affects the reading. For example, if >> I turn on my headlights, the tach needle jumps up a bit, or if I turn on the >> turn signal, the tach will bounce in time with the blinking. >> >> -the coolant LED sometimes flashes a longish amount of time upon startup >> before going out. I know the coolant level is good. >> >> Things I've done: >> >> I acquired another cluster from another '85 van. >> Symptoms are exactly the same. This should rule out the cluster being the >> problem... >> With my meter, I measured 0 ohms resistance on the pin #3 ground to chasis >> ground, so the ground should be good... >> I unhooked pin #12, the dynamic oil buzzer system, since the '85 cluster >> doesn't have this function, but there is no change in anything. >> >> I'm sort of at a loss. That spliced coolant sensor wire may have >> something to do with the coolant sensor problem, right? >> >> But that still does not explain the tachometer problem. >> I've read that there is an oil pressure sensor (I think) that starts >> engaging after 2k RPM, is this right? Seems like that could be related to >> the tach issue since they both relate to 1800-2000 RPM...but I don't know >> anything about it. >> >> Any suggestions are very welcome. Please PM me as I am on digest mode and >> sometimes don't receive posts until a day or two later. >> Hopefully I've been specific enough for you to have some ideas... >> >> Thanks! >> >> /james >> >


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