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91 Riviera IPC Problem


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Hi,ihave a 91 Riv with the instrument cluster not coming on most of the time.When this occurs it is dark except for 00 and error showing.It works fine on occasions,usually when it sits overnite and i start it in temps below 25 degrees or strangely after it runs for over a half hour!I was a Cadillac tune up tech for many years back when this car was new,i remember doing some electrical work when things were slow,i did some repairs on Eldorados which is the same vewhicle-GM-E- body and replacing a central power supply-CPS for similiar issue,did some checking and found my car don,t have a CPS.I did what was done then on Cadillacs-pushed on a/c panel,the off and warmer buttons and got dtc,s-b1334,b3334,b3354,b3364,b4464,e047.I have replaced the IPC and BCM and no change,still intermittent IPC.Also the previous owner brought the car to many shops and no one was able to fix it and she gave up,bought a new car and sold it to me.Same poroblem still after all these parts-intermittent IPC operation.If it means anything the odometer ,both regular and trip odometers keeps miles when dash is dark very accurately!Any ideas?

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We deal with this problem quite a bit over on the Reatta site. The '90-93 Instrument Clusters are a "weak link" item in regards to your car. There are a number of cold solder joints that when cold don't make contact. Once warm the contact is made and then everything works. The miles [trip and odometer] are stored in the computer not the Instrument Cluster. You can go on Ebay and have it rebuilt or if you want I have a good unit available. PM me if interested.

Thanks, Dave

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Follow Daves89's advice. You probably installed a bad IPC and/or BCM. Also, you might want to check your pin connections at the IPC and BCM and the overall condition of the wiring harness itself. I believe the codes you quoted point to IPC/BCM communication problems (serial data breakdown).

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It has always been my experience that unless the car has been molested in any way, the harness will be good. Spraying contact cleaner on the plugs is always a good idea, as we need to remember that these cars are 20 years old.

I really don't think that the BCM is at fault here, I just think you have reached the end of the life expectancy of the Instrument Cluster.

There are a number of places that can rebuild them some offering a 3 year waaranty others a 1 year warranty.

You can find repair shops either at e bay or you can go to Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market and enter info about your car. There are a number of salvage yards that offer a rebuild service there.

Or you can try any number of vendors over at the Reatta site. We actually have a sticky of all the vendors, or you can go to the Buy/Sell page at the Reatta site. There is an advertising blitz going on right now. My recomendation is Jim Finn. He is probably the most reasonable.

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  • 4 months later...
Sorry it is jfinn@cpinternet.com

I mistakenly told you.net...

Hey,you were right,it,s been a few months ,but i finally found a cluster at a good price,installed it and is working great.Guess i bought a bad one like you said!Also since i put in the good dash,all the backlighting-shifter,radio,switches are also working, i cleared all the bcm codes and they never came back now!

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Good for you! Glad it finally was resolved. However unless you did something else, the restoring of the backlighting on the other components you mentioned, are not related to the swapping out of the instrument cluster. At least that is my experience.

BTW if you have not already done so, please do NOT throw your old IPC away. You can use it for a "core" or if you really don't want it, offer to someone like kdirk [for cost of freight] over on the Reatta forum. He is an electronics whiz and wants to start rebuilding them.

These clusters are not made anymore so we should keep as many as we can in circulation.

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