by james35 » Thu Mar 17, 2016 5:29 am
Hello All. I apologize for being away so long since the last post.
I finally got back to the 89 Aries Turn Sig Indicatiors on "Dash that don't light up" post. After re-checking the Hanes manual, wiring diagrams & etc. I found that the dash lights may be burned out but didn't think both right and left would occur the same time thereby causing all kinds of other checking. I finally decided to pull the Cluster since the manual stated that it was necessary to replace any bad lights. Well. after removing the lower and upper panels, I removed the four screws to remove the cluster and found that there was absolutely no room to move it forward to remove the left and right connectors to the printed circuit cards on the back of the cluster. I had to reach behind and pull each of the connector wires forward to get a little play so the cluster could be moved enough to get hands on the connectors and wiggle them enough to get them loose. I was able to find an older Aries in a junk yard and had some experience in moving the cluster there but it came out a lot farther to reach the connectors which I thought would work here as well - no no. Then, there was the speedometer cable. The junk yard Aries had just an electrical attachment that pulled right out, but mine was actually a speedometer cable. I was told that the 89 did not use an actual cable but like the Junk yard car. Well, I finally was able to push the locking clip and release the speedometer cable. After checking many lights and finding half a dozen burned out, I replaced them then worked to put the cluster back in. It was easier than I thought due to the little extra room by pulling the cables out so had room to attach the connectors. And since the speedometer cable was fixed tight in one position, I just centered the cable end to the cluster receptacle and ergo, it fit. I was really worried that putting it back would be nearly impossible but it worked out ok. Except, when all was done, the turn signal indicators worked great (the whole problem was that they were burned out) but, I found out now that the gas gauge is stuck below the empty mark even thought the tank is nearly full.
Now, I have no idea what the problem is or how to fix it. I do think that I probably will need to go through the whole process of removing the lower and upper panels and the cluster but still have no idea what I did to cause the fuel guage to lock in a minus condition. Somewhere it mentioned grounding the cluster might resolve the problem & I will try that first but if anyone has any idea what might work, I would be very happy to hear your solution.
Sorry for the long dissertation but I felt that one shouldn't have to go through all of this just to change some dash bulbs - bad design.
Thanks for listening and hope someone has some suggestions.
James35