Quote:
HH56 wrote:
There is a tab on both ends of the regulator with a hole for a screw. In the photo above the regulator screws are shared with one end of the CBs located on either side of the regulator. Those screws into the cluster provide the ground. The part of the regulator case having the mounting ears is crimped onto the other side and crimps complete the ground to the back or working side where there is a rivet thru the case to carry the ground inside to where it is needed.
I can't see the regulator screw holes, but I suppose they are on the half of the case that is removed in the pic to show the innards.
As I see it, there are 3 possible grounding problems (in addition to a completely bad cluster ground).
1. Both halves of the regulator case need to be grounded to each other, so the crimps need to be secure, with no corrosion or debris that might interfere with ground.
2. The screw holes being on just the one half of the regulator case, may tighten up just fine, but then cause the regulator case to pull apart if there's any interference or misalignment with one of the case halves.
3. The regulator doesn't really have a unique ground to the cluster, it relies on the breaker grounding screws and hardware, leaving more chances for a loose connection or corrosion.
I think I'm going under there armed with a short screwdriver and a can of WD 40 to clean things up and tighten them. Then we'll see if there's any life in the gauges. I hope everything is still connected. I don't want to root around under there trying to get screws started.
It also looks like the circuit breaker nuts could be checked with either a hand-held socket or just fingers.
Anybody try this from under the dash?
This little exploration may be helpful for those whose otherwise working instrument cluster has dead Fuel and Temp gauges.
Howard,
One last thing that wold help a lot, do yo have a pick or drawing of the location of the screw holes on the other halve of the reglator? I'd like to see how they where they fit over the circuit breaker screws. Neither pic shows it actually attached, and It's hard to visualize--and't see quite how it would be oriented, just eyeballing it.
Many thanks.