90 GXL 5spd. Got it 3 days ago, took a U turn on a street and drifted a little as I dropped the clutch stepping on the throttle. Right as I regained control of the car I noticed my guage cluster wasn't working (-speedo). Find out meter fuse is blown. Replace it and 30 seconds of driving later it blows again everytime.

Recent work done: Connected dash speaker. (disconnected now)

Wierd habits: The clock worked but reset itself when I tried to set the time. Not right away but over time I would notice it has resetted. Yeserday my seatbelts stopped working, I took the fuse out and put it back in (while replacing meter fuse), now they work fine. I've went 5th gear before, and it didn't blow then. The car runs great except for random fluctuating idle. While poking down by the pedal area I noticed the clutch start switch (whatever its called) has been disconnected and theres a wire coming from the brake pedal that looks like its been disconnected.

Now I do know theres an assload of threads about this. But this is my first time dealing with an electrical problem and I'd rather be pointed in the right direction before I screw anything up. Please tell me what to check and exactly what to do. I have the guage cluster out of the car right now.

This post from Icemark was helpful, although I don't exactly know what he means. Say I disconnect the guage cluster and turn on the car for like 10 minutes and no fuse blows, does this mean the guage cluster is bad or the wiring to the guage cluster is bad?

Thanks a lot in advance, please help a noob

 

Just started the car for 20 minutes with the guage cluster disconnected and the fuse didn't blow. Put it in reverse a few times also, still didn't blow. Does this mean that I should replace the guage cluster or check the wiring going to the guage cluster?

Also I just noticed my reverse lights do not work. Also on the drive home when the fuse blew the first time I remember a burning smell, but I didn't check where it came from.

 

where did you disconnect the gauges??

If the fuse only blows when you have the gauge cluster plugged in then it is a bad cluster.

But the fact that the reverse lights do not work, points back to the wiring going to the switch.

Did you drive the car those 20 minutes or did you just sit it there.

 

I pulled the whole guage cluster out. I let it idle for 20 minutes and revved it a few times, didn't think it'd make a difference. I'll drive it some later.

 

well there is the round plugs on the back of the gauges and then the single large plug into the dash harness.

 

Yeah, I unplugged everything and took the cluster out.

 

yeah, but which one??? Did you unplug the harness at the back of the cluster or at the dash harness???

 

Back of the cluster. I might just have to bite the bulllet and give it to RP performance

 

Put the guage cluster back in and drove around and found out the fuse blows right when the CD player turns on After a drive when I shut it off, my seatbelts stopped working

 

New post because it wont let me edit: It doesn't blow when the CD player turns on. Its random. The seatbelts are fixed when I replace the fuse.