instrument cluster warning lights

[facboy]

Only slightly related but the cluster boost gauge on mine has stopped working entirely. My shop talked to whoever does their instrument work and they said they haven’t been able to fix them reliably when they go bad.

[blade7]

I'll get out my spare cluster this week and see if I can find the ribbon pins needed to test the various lights -- so at least you'll know if it's in the cluster or the wiring/switches feeding the cluster...

That would be great, Thanks. There's a place over here that repairs clusters, but they want $200 even if no fault is found.

[blade7]

The LEDs are often a bit of a loose fit. Check to make sure those two are snug. I found I had to clock some of mine an 1/8 turn counter clockwise to snug them up and make good contact, or swap in a different bulb and base.

They were pretty snug, I turned them 180 to check they weren't fitted wrong too.

[spacecad3t]

I guess two points to mention here. Tom has provided some gauge troubleshooting videos in the past, but as for fixing a dead gauge, probably best to either find a working replacement or send your entire cluster out for refurbishment, a few vendors exist who still do this.

Also, Tom didn't do it, so I'll do it- The carpokes 911 gauge cluster mod comes with a light upgrade and is very much worth it! They look super sharp and greatly improved my cluster lighting.

[Tom]

Only slightly related but the cluster boost gauge on mine has stopped working entirely. My shop talked to whoever does their instrument work and they said they haven’t been able to fix them reliably when they go bad.

Could be the signal going to it? Have you tested the gauge out of the cluster? If not, I'd do that before anything else. There is an awkward fold in the flexible PCB behind the cluster that can damage the trace carrying the boost gauge signal. I had to jumper the broken part on my test rig cluster... Without the jumper everything except the boost gauge worked. Can't remember off-hand if I posted boost gauge testing details here -- if not, let me know and I can.

flex-flaw.jpg (173.75 KiB) Viewed 101 times

[facboy]

Yeah, afaik the refurb place said they haven’t had much luck reliably repairing that particular gauge (the boost gauge), also suggested perhaps replacement cluster.

[Tom]

Yeah, afaik the refurb place said they haven’t had much luck reliably repairing that particular gauge (the boost gauge), also suggested perhaps replacement cluster.

Did you see my post above? There's a good chance nothing is wrong with the gauge itself. I'm not a fan of the advice you are getting. If the tach/boost gauge is broken, there's no need to replace the whole cluster. If the cluster is bad, there's no need to repair that gauge. And before spending money on anything in the cluster, they should be isolating where the problem is before sending you off to throw parts at it. Unless there is more to the story, for all we know, the wire from the KLR that goes through the red 4-pin connector in the footwell is disconnected...

[facboy]

i couldn't find a whole lot on testing the cluster searching, only this i guess? https://www.carpokes.com/viewtopic.php? ... een#p52210

EDIT: sorry, and no, i posted before i saw your reply

EDIT 2: actually to be fair the advice at the moment is i have bigger fish to fry, this is fairly low on my list of things so i told them not to spend a lot of time on it.

[Tom]

I did the reflector foil refurb, and the backlighting has improved. Changed to LED's too, but still no indicator warning light, or the big red warning light above it . I'm wondering if the fault is in the cluster, or the wiring to it.

Ok, I got out the test cluster and can help you test if the main warning light is working or not. That light goes on when edge connector B4 has 12 volts and A13 has is grounded. Importantly for LED conversions, in the light socket for the main warning light, the lower copper pad carries 12 volts and the upper pad carries the ground. There are a number of diodes in the circuit that make checking continuity with a multimeter a challenge, so it's easiest to power it up and see if the light goes on. If not, the LED is getting the wrong polarity, the LED doesn't work, or there's something wrong in the flexible printed circuit board. If it does light up, then your problem is most likely not in the cluster, but rather the signals going to it....

b4-power.jpg (272.37 KiB) Viewed 91 times

This red clip has 12 volts from my adjustable power supply, but any 12 volt source is fine. I traced edge connector B4 directly to that copper post so just used that post since the clip holds better there.

a13-ground.jpg (348.12 KiB) Viewed 91 times

Then put ground on edge connector A13 (behind the fuel gauge) -- careful not to short to the other fingers.

warning-light-on.jpg (145.77 KiB) Viewed 91 times

With 12v and Ground applied as shown, the warning light 'should' pop right on.

[AudiSport]

The LEDs are polarity sensitive while incandescent isn't. which means you might have to rotate the bulb 180 degrees to make it work. Bit frustrating if the warning isn't lit up