el_ghapo

So I've been getting my *** kicked by this situation. I'm by no means an electrician, but the past year I've been trying to figure out whats wrong with my dash. The only things that work perfectly are the speedometer, odometer, and the clock. No tach, temp, fuel, and when I turn the blinkers on, the tach moves with it. All the wires look good, but the fuse for the dash always blows out. I've gone pretty deep in the car and found no crossed wires or anything that looks sketchy. I took the instrument cluster out and there's a weird black fluid all around it. Any suggestions or things I should try before buying a new one and seeing if that fixes it? And again, this is my first car so I'm not the greatest mechanic but I've been working on this for quite some time and I've been all over the internet and forums and can't find anything too helpful. Any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated lol. Also I just remembered, when it ran I plugged a fuse in and all the gauge needles slowly moved up as far as they could go

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

Download the 1979 wiring disgrams here: http://www.foxed.ca/rx7manual/manual...ingDiagram.pdf

Try unplugging X-05 on the cluster and see if the fuse blows while X-06 is plugged in. If it does not blow the fuse, plug X-05 in and unplug X-06. If it blows the fuse the issue, probably a direct short, is in that part of the circuit.

Looks like X-05 is covered in Section C.

And the best I can tell X-06 is covered in Section E as part of the headlight indicator light.

Hot_Dog

>>> "I took the instrument cluster out and there's a weird black fluid all around it. Any suggestions or things I should try before buying a new one and seeing if that fixes it?"

Sounds like some of your electrolytic capacitors have leaked. Time to disassemble and replace the e-caps and whatever other components have been damaged. Maybe this Youtube video will help:

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

weird black fluid can also be transmission fluid, there is a seal in the speedo drive and when it goes bad oil can wick up the cable and leak in your lap...

el_ghapo

thats kinda what I was thinking, but whatever was in the AC system was also leaking so i pulled all that junk out and now I've got turbo room lol

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

Personally, I would pick up a spare known good cluster and try it. At this point, it can't hurt and you can easily rule things out rather than chase your tail.

Dodger

How did you get the cluster out? I have an 1982 that I think, has bad ground to the gauges. I've removed every screw possible but still can't get the cluster out. Any ideas appreciated.

el_ghapo

is it loose-y goose-y? Took a little bit of heaving to pull it out through the front. Make sure to unplug all the wire connectors and speedo cable and try to push it out from the back or pull it from the front. Its quite snug in there so be careful but not too gentle

Toruki

Once you get the speedo cable off (in my 83 at least) there is room to get the electrical connectors off. It is tight but doable. Much easier if you remove the steering wheel, but not required.

I found putting it back together much harder.

el_ghapo

got around to that today, it was the cluster of wires closest to the driver side door, so i think X-05. Got any tips on where to go now? Put a multimeter in there and there is a massive amount of power going into one of those wires

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

The first page a Section C shows everything X-05 controls into. If X-05 was not plugged in and did not blow the fuse than my guess is that something that supplies that circuit is grounded. You can try and unplug each sensor that X-05 controls and plug them in one at a time till the fuse blows. Label everything you unplug to ensure you know where it goes back. Ex: Oil Level sensor is one of them. I know this isn't the best way to troubleshoot this, but to do it correctly you need to be able to read and understand the schematic knowing which wires supplies a voltage and which supply a ground or resistance.You could substitute a test light in place of the fuse.

el_ghapo

fuse doesn't blow all the time, what happened was, when I unplugged x-06 and left x-05 plugged in, I tried to use the blinkers and everything shut off and wouldn't turn back on unless I disconnected and re reconnected the battery. Same as blowing a fuse??

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

No, this is not the same. The idea of disconnecting one connector and then the other was to isolate a direct short. In this case, the test did not confirm a direct short. Plug both 5 and 6 back in. You might need to unplug each sensor one at a time, plug battery back in, and see if the fuse blows. it's a long process.

Does the fuse blow every time with all the wiring in it's normal position (plugged in)?

el_ghapo

no, when I first started working on the electrical system, I noticed it was blown. I put one or 2 more into it before I realized that the battery dies overnight so I just left it be until I decided it was a good idea to have a temp gauge (I only used to drive it a mile or so to work and back so heat was never a big thought)

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

Good to know. this is a completely different then was explained in your original post.

Can you explain when the fuse blows? If it's random, it might be best just to buy a known good dash cluster. They can be had reasonably priced.