[Guest]

So recently my 83 El Co has been giving me problems with the gauge. The two main problems are my speedometer; the needle broke off, it shows five mph less than your actually going (So if the speed limit is 40 you'd need to go 35 which is actually 40) it also bounces around everywhere so half od the time when Im driving I actually have no idea how fast Im actually going, and my gas gauge never goes down from full. I have to guess when to fill up my tank, It never moves. Also all the other gauges are giving me problems. I'm not sure if there is anyway I can fix these problems or would I just neeed to buy a whole new cluster? Any information helps! Thank you for your time. Also I wasnt sure where to post this but I felt like this was the right place.
I'll also try to post some pics of my problems when I get the time.

 

[Jima]

I had multiple gauge problems: voltage read low, speedometer read low, clock worked occasionally, ...

The causes of the electrical problems were bad connections on the cluster connector and gauge connections to the printed circuit. The speedometer reading could have been fixed with a different driven gear at the transmission but it also had a broken needle.

The speedometer was replaced with an Autometer 3 1/8" speedometer with custom cable with screw on attachment to the head. The clock was replaced with a 3 1/8" tach. Copper strips at the cluster connections were cleaned and glued down with conducting glue. A better connection was made between the metal clip for the temp gauge and the copper strip on the printed circuit. Two dry wall screws were used to pull the cluster connector tighter into the printed circuit.

It took a lot of poking around with a meter to find and fix all the conduction issues. You might have a bunch of similar issues. But, check the easy things first like fuse and ground contacts.

 

[wwoodley]

Someone with more experience may be able to answer better that I can.

The speedo needle jumping around sounds like a bad speedometer cable.

Gas gauge sounds like a bad ground.

Have you taken your cluster off before? If all your gauges are a little haywire it could be that the connector is not getting a good connection or a good ground.

 

[riatta]

My Right blinker comes steady on when I turn on the lights. I looked at he circuit board it seems ok . any suggestions. I have idiot lights now considering going to the gauge package.

 

[464elky]

One of the right turn signals is not making a good ground in the socket.

 

[Guest]

Someone with more experience may be able to answer better that I can.

The speedo needle jumping around sounds like a bad speedometer cable.

Gas gauge sounds like a bad ground.

Have you taken your cluster off before? If all your gauges are a little haywire it could be that the connector is not getting a good connection or a good ground.

I personally have never taken the gauges out but I think the mechanic we took it to did. I don't wanna mess with it and make it worse :/ Im not too sure what to do.