Digital Dash Problem

[jimustanguitar]

I have a '90 that I just started driving regularly as of friday. The digital dash (guage cluster) intermittantly has an error where the speedometer reads 00, the odometer says error, and the electrical problem light turns on, these are the only lights on the panel that show when this happens, and the speedometer does not change from the zeros at driving speeds. I have read some posts in the past where the problem was the dash itself, and others where there was a bad ground on a fuel system sending unit. I have a good knowledge of electronics and can repair either of these problems myself, but I need to know which components to replace. I know that there is a man in Michigan, I believe, that rebuilds the dashes by replacing some transistors and that such, but I don't know which ones to replace. Also, if there is a sending unit that is not grounded, which unit is it and where is it at? Are there any other common causes that make the dash panel behave like this? Thanks for any information that you can provide.

[Jim]

From my experience 99% of the time the IPC itself is bad and needs to be repaired or replaced. I have good used ones available and can be reached at jfinn@cpinternet.com

[harry yarnell]

I too have an extensive electronics backround, and have yet been able to figure out what goes wrong with this '90 dashs. I found a fella down in Baltimore who repairs these for $100. Love to know what he does, but, obviously, he isn't gonna tell me. spierce64@sprintpcs.com

[bwarren]

My 91 has not yet experienced any display problems. Most of the threads I have read seem to indicate the problem is intermittent before complete failure. Unless a component is getting hot and then failing and once cooled off works again, the most logical problem would be a pressure point somewhere on a circuit board related to the display. This will generally cause cold solder connections which will be intermittent. If this is the case, the fix would be to find and reflow the solder connection and eliminate the plastic stand-off or mounting device that caused the pressure point in the first place. This theory comes from literally hundreds of computer monitor repairs that I have made, caused by the weight of the monitor pressing down on the pedestal base over time. This was back in the days when it was affordable to have monitors repaired. If my display ever fails, this is what I will be looking for. Sometimes a magnifying glass is needed to find the cold solder connections.

[Arrallen]

You may get a clue from my own experience. Last summer the dash failed almost as soon as I used my car. In the fall the dashed failed almost every day at the same intersection about six miles from home on my way to work, and I wondered if it had something to do with the dash being in close proximity to the defrosters. Now that winter is here I do not have failures, but I only use my car to and from work, a 7.5 mile trip. Maybe if I used the car for a longer trip the problem would have shown up. I sent my dash to Mr. Pierce, the gentleman that advertises on Ebay, and he had a very fast turn around. Very pleasant man to work with although I don't know what he did. Don't care as long as it works.

[harry yarnell]

If it is cold solder joints, then I havn't found any. I've been over both boards witha magnifying glass and nada. I'm VERY familar with cold solder joints in electronic eqpt, but couldn't find any in these dashs.

And yes, I would like to know what Herr Pierce does, as I feel I could do the same for less! But this is America, and we're all entitled to make a buck.

[Guest wally888]

My 91 has a gremlin in the trip odometer. When not working stays at 00, can not enter diagnostics, when parked (ign off) restarted 00 turns to miles driven since it worked (even though I only drove 3 miles last leg). Works sometime, no heat or cold coorelation.............Ben working for about a month, may fail tomorrow, work next week, set a code, of course always History.