When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
The FD car I just bought has a dead instrument cluster. This was a huge blow up but no need to go there. I like the car and I want to get it in tip top shape. I took it apart and followed 'Electrical Body Troubleshooting Manual' page C1-7 for instrument cluster and checked the connector GND (pin 1E) and B+ (pin 2D). GND is fine but on pin 2D I only measured 3.66V instead of 12V. So the problem points to the harness. Its a single HKS turbo car with lots of mods and I do know something drains the battery because it needs re-charge after only 4-5 days. It could be something as stupid as aftermarket stereo which I still haven't disconnected. Meanwhile I use a battery disconnect switch so I don't have to charge the battery every so often. Does anyone here have any suggestion where to start troubleshooting. My plan is to cut the 2D (B+) wire going to the connector and use a new piece of wire and connect it to the battery via a 10A fuse, then plug in all the connectors into the cluster and see if all the instruments come to life. If so, then figure out the harness issue and the battery drain. If not, replace the cluster instruments. Any advise is greatly appreciated. Attached is the wiring diagram.
There are places and people you can mail your cluster to, to have the electronics on it serviced and repaired. Often the clusters fail due to aging capacitors and the like.
Of course before you jump there, It's reasonable to map out all of your wiring and look for any issues. I would start by looking for and documenting anything aftermarket.
If you want to narrow down your search for the battery drain, you can monitor current draw on your battery with a multimeter and start pulling fuses until the parasitic current reduces to almost zero (some small draw on the battery isn't necessarily abnormal). Lots of tutorials online about this kind of test, but here is the first one that came up on google.
Aftermarket stereo or aftermarket alarms are the common culprits. For stereos its normally bad wiring and the stereo never turning off the amps.
Before cutting up your factory harness and splicing new runs etc etc I'd really suggest mapping out what you have and trying to address any issues, especially since the cluster problem may not be harness related at all.
There are places and people you can mail your cluster to, to have the electronics on it serviced and repaired. Often the clusters fail due to aging capacitors and the like.
Of course before you jump there, It's reasonable to map out all of your wiring and look for any issues. I would start by looking for and documenting anything aftermarket.
If you want to narrow down your search for the battery drain, you can monitor current draw on your battery with a multimeter and start pulling fuses until the parasitic current reduces to almost zero (some small draw on the battery isn't necessarily abnormal). Lots of tutorials online about this kind of test, but here is the first one that came up on google.
Aftermarket stereo or aftermarket alarms are the common culprits. For stereos its normally bad wiring and the stereo never turning off the amps.
Before cutting up your factory harness and splicing new runs etc etc I'd really suggest mapping out what you have and trying to address any issues, especially since the cluster problem may not be harness related at all.
Thanks for the advise, mapping needs to be done for sure but it will take some time. I need to know if I have a working cluster and instruments, not to mention I don't know the fuel level! I disconnected aftermarket stereo, but not the Clifford alarm yet. The alarm is wired weird, I need to disable alarm second time with key in ON position in order to start the engine. I guess its extra protection, but what a pain. I want to change that asap. I will measure the dead current and once I know I have a working cluster, I will start unplugging the fuses to find a leak.
What happens when you apply current to the various pins on the back of the cluster?
Is there a lot of corrosion or other evidence of moisture damage on the circuit boards?
You will eventually end up at Michael Gagne's door.
Why delay?
Please be more specific, which pins what current? You mean voltage? There was corrosion on the screws that hold instruments but I cleaned them all. Who is Michael Gagne?
Michael Gagne is in Canada, he's become an expert at fixing instrument clusters. He's on here as well but Facebook seems to be the best way to contact him. He also has a full test rig so he can totally test all functions of the cluster and calibrate it as well.
Here is the shot of the cluster with engine running during which the B+ pin 2D voltage is measured at 13.5V. This points to a dead actual instrument cluster. But I want to replace all the caps and test all the diodes before I spend 1000 bucks to purchase a refurbished cluster. There are no visible leaks under the caps so I may end up doing this at the end anyway but want to try fix the original cluster first. Dead current is measured at 200mA, it should be <20mA. I want to disconnect the aftermarket Clifford Concept 650 alarm. I already disconnected two aftermarket stereo amps and the radar detector. This didn't decrease dead current tho. Started mapping the HKS turbo added on circuits and modded wiring for leaks. Stay tuned.
That looks like a tach for an automatic. Redline at 7k. Or did we know that already?
Michael charges a lot less than $1000 to refurbish the cluster.
If manual, has the car been converted from automatic?
That would add to the fun.
Such as the automatic ECU being different.
No we didn't know that the tach is from an automatic. And since this is a JDM car the speedo is not original either, it should be in km/h not mph. The car is manual now, hard to tell if its been converted from automatic at some point. The ECU is APEXi PFC. Well all this does add to the fun on fixing this cluster, but now I need to source another tach with 8k red line. thanks for the reply
Most likely someone swapped out the JDM cluster with a US cluster and didn't realize they were getting an automatic cluster. It's no big deal, just cosmetic. The US clusters have the oil pressure in PSI, speedo in MPH, etc. That also most likely means your odometer isn't right, it's whatever was on that cluster that someone bought, unless they went the extra mile and swapped the odometer chip which I doubt.
Michael Gagne is about $150 plus shipping for a typical cluster repair. It can be more if you want the odometer swapped out with a newer/different color one.
Yeah, agree that getting it repaired is better than shelling out for another used cluster.
You can mix and match the cluster components for what its worth...if you aren't happy with having the auto version. But they should all be compatible/interchangeable.
Its strange to me that your gas, coolant, and oil pressure gauges don't get a reading. Typically the speedo/odo/tach go down together....but I feel like I see less threads about the other 3.
Is it possible that one of the plugs is not pushed in all the way? Or just has a dirty contact? Alternatively I guess your temp and oil pressure sensors could just not connected (damaged wire somewhere...had that problem a couple of times since both of those get pretty brittle with age in the engine bay) You may want to check the flexboard and everything for any bad/dirty connections first.
For what its worth I have a spare USDM tachometer if the aesthetics bother you that much, but it may need some additional work on the circuit board too. It had a bouncing needle when removed and I was able to make some PCB repairs that seemed to make it better on my test bench...but I haven't tried plugging it into the car to test since I had another working tach.
I forget if the one I have is 93 or 94 though. I think they have different tick mark styles or something.
Most likely someone swapped out the JDM cluster with a US cluster and didn't realize they were getting an automatic cluster. It's no big deal, just cosmetic. The US clusters have the oil pressure in PSI, speedo in MPH, etc. That also most likely means your odometer isn't right, it's whatever was on that cluster that someone bought, unless they went the extra mile and swapped the odometer chip which I doubt.
Michael Gagne is about $150 plus shipping for a typical cluster repair. It can be more if you want the odometer swapped out with a newer/different color one.
Dale
I found some really good old threads here on the subject, so today I will try diagnose the tach as posted in this thread:
If that doesn't yield anything, ie B+ and GND are ok, and if its not the signal wire, I will replace the capacitors on the speedo board and check the diodes. If that doesn't fix it I will reach out to Michael for help and have the tacho swapped and cluster repaired. My tacho is most likely ok based on that ^^^ thread so yes, I would swap it or sell it once I source an 8k one. thanks
If that doesn't yield anything, ie B+ and GND are ok, and if its not the signal wire, I will replace the capacitors on the speedo board and check the diodes. If that doesn't fix it I will reach out to Michael for help and have the tacho swapped and cluster repaired. My tacho is most likely ok based on that ^^^ thread so yes, I would swap it or sell it once I source an 8k one. thanks
For what it's worth, tacho can be somewhat bench tested if you have a signal generator. If I remember right it just takes 3 inputs - power, ground, and a pulse signal.
Yeah, agree that getting it repaired is better than shelling out for another used cluster.
You can mix and match the cluster components for what its worth...if you aren't happy with having the auto version. But they should all be compatible/interchangeable.
Its strange to me that your gas, coolant, and oil pressure gauges don't get a reading. Typically the speedo/odo/tach go down together....but I feel like I see less threads about the other 3.
Is it possible that one of the plugs is not pushed in all the way? Or just has a dirty contact? Alternatively I guess your temp and oil pressure sensors could just not connected (damaged wire somewhere...had that problem a couple of times since both of those get pretty brittle with age in the engine bay) You may want to check the flexboard and everything for any bad/dirty connections first.
For what its worth I have a spare USDM tachometer if the aesthetics bother you that much, but it may need some additional work on the circuit board too. It had a bouncing needle when removed and I was able to make some PCB repairs that seemed to make it better on my test bench...but I haven't tried plugging it into the car to test since I had another working tach.
I forget if the one I have is 93 or 94 though. I think they have different tick mark styles or something.
Will double check the back connectors. Testing three screws on the back of the tacho may yield some clues and if I fix the tacho, the speedo and odometer may get fixed too. I will check tacho screws today. Thanks for offering a spare tacho, let me get back to you on this once I troubleshoot my tacho. I am also puzzled by oil pressure, coolant and fuel gauges not responding. Wires are brittle due to age so I will check that carefully. The flexy board does get B+ because the indicator lights work. But I don't know if the three small gauges share the same B+ signal that somehow doesn't make it to the common + supply.
The oil/water/fuel are somewhat separate from the tacho/speedo/odo. ie a bad tacho/speedo/odo *shouldn't* disable those 3 gauges AFAIK.
I know when my cluster took a dump those 3 gauges were never impacted at least (though the oil pressure one will read nothing like that if the sender gets disconnected...which I ran into a couple of times since that one wire gets brittle and kept breaking. I ended up just replacing that length of wire on the harness finally.
The temp sensor can have the same problem, though if that sensor gets disconnected the coolant light should come on I think and I don't see it on in your picture.
LPT I would replace all the cluster lights while you have it out. Some you can use LEDs for, but most I would stick with OEM style bulbs. You can read about it on some threads on this forum. That way you know all your warning/signal lights should work!
Update: measured tacho 3 screws at the back of the cluster. GND is ok, signal - I haven't measured yet but for B+ I only get 7.76V instead of 13.6V. All the lights were checked out and they all work. So do the indicator lights. Once I connected 2 wires, green and red to the back of the oil pressure gauge it woke up and works just fine. There is still a possibility that other two small gauges work as well. There may be 1/2 tank of gas in the tank so the fuel gauge may be ok and its been quite cold recently so the coolant temp. gauge may as well be just above freezing. In any case, 7.76V on the B+ of the tacho could mean: 1) corrosion on the screw, 2) bad caps on the speedo board, 3) bad 12V zener diode (ba13) I think. Next is to tap +12V screw directly to B+, then if that doesnt wake up the tacho, replace all the capacitors on the speedo board. If that doesn't work, send the cluster for repair. thoughts?
I think you are on the right track. Sound like you have some electrical experience which helps. Just be careful and don't make the problem more than what it is.
Michael Gagne
