IHADAV8.com - Turbo Buick Tech, and Nonsense
Tech Area => General Buick Tech => Topic started by: phil_long on October 05 2011, 06:51:59 PM
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I removed the digital dash from the car. Now how do I get the whole cluster out so i can get to the back of it to clean it? Thanks in advance
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ummm, hello?
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never pulled a digital dash...are you saying you removed the entire dash from the car and now you want to remove the cluster?
Normally, you pop the trim in front of the cluster out, then remove the screws holding the cluster to the dash, unclip the speedo cable and pull the cluster out to where you can disconnect the wiring harness.
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I know its confusing, but i pulled the digital dash, and now I want to remove the side lights, etc. So basically I'm trying to pull the whole cluster. Do I have to drop the steering wheel in order to get to the back, or is there another way?
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It's a little confusing what you're doing. If you just want to take the IPC out, undo the speedometer cable at the back, undo the 4? 1/4 or 9/32 screws and the digital portion comes out. It sounds like you have the bezel and trim out already.
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You have to be able to reach up from the bottom and grab the speedo cable where it clips to the speedometer.
that means you have to take the underdash cover off so you can reach up. If I recall correctly, it may give you a bit more room to pull the cluster out if you do drop the steering column down by removing the two nuts that hold it up
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OK, that what I needed to know. And yes, cluster and Bezel already removed. I never knew it was called an IPC. Thanks
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Me, either. That sounds like something one takes for a bad stomach.
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Alright guys, so now that I removed everything and call myself cleaning the contacts, I put the damn dash back in and the alternator doesn't charge. I've been reading this guide from casper's explaining the special VOLTS bulb, but my car never had one. How important is that resistor within that bulb???
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And I've tried different bulbs across the same location on the flex board, and sometimes there is continuity, and some bulbs there none. only weird thing is, all the bulbs work.....
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check the contacts where bulb plugs in..
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it needs a bulb or a resistor...if the bulb will not light, then the alternator will not charge and even if you have one of the bases with the resistor in it, it will still not charge because the bulb will burn if it is making contact, and if it does not, then the resistor is not making contact either....
You can take a small bulb and a socket and connect it between the alternator wire and a switched power feed and do the same thing...or you can stick a resistor in the wire instead of the bulb and do the same thing.
John sells that field fix that does just that.
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Thanks steve. I thought about investing in the part that John sells. It's inexpensive and it seems like it would do the trick. Just wanted to try and fix something on my own for once. Looks like that's my next purchase......
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they are tricky to get to make contact. Usually, if you keep messing with it, it will eventually work
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They are definitely tricky. Got the right bulb in there, and it worked properly. I had to use all of my strength to push the dash in to make contact. The screws wont be good enough for a consistent contact, due to vibration etc, so it's looking like I'm going to be purchasing that part. Thanks for all the input guys.
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Just in case you guys care, I got everything situated with this. Just wanted to "officially" close this thread. Lol. I hate reading some threads when someone has a problem, and then after all the help they receive, never really confirm whether everything is ok or not. So I'm good with my issue. I ended up purchasing the field fix harness, voltage went back to where it was suppose to. Thanks for the help fellas
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I just had the same issue, used Steve's light buld > alternator charge method for a year or so.
Taking out the cluster, cleaning the exposed copper traces with a scouring pad, tweaked/cleaned the bulb contacts on the twist-on base, and checked / cleaned the light bulbs/bulb feed wides.
Fixed mine..
http://ihadav8.com/forum/index.php?topic=1395.msg43541#msg43541 (http://ihadav8.com/forum/index.php?topic=1395.msg43541#msg43541)
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glad you got that one behind you, Phil!
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Thanks Steve. Just thought about starting another thread. I literally been researching all day on the voltage issues. At idle, the voltage is good. After a test drive at night, i check the numbers at idle the SM bounces between 13.6/13.2. Whenever I'm driving, it drops significantly when I give it gas, like half throttle the voltage might drop down to 11.xx. I started to get my alt tested, but the load "test" that they run isn't worth much. The voltage at the back of the alt and bat at idle is around 13.9/14v. Was reading your page and I thought about looking at the ign switch. These cars are so picky.
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Yes, they are.
That would be my starting place. Drove me crazy for a long time on one of my cars. That sure sounds like a loose connection.
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So the ign switch would be a great place to start? And this might be a crazy question, but how long do you think it would take to ruin an alt running on a bad battery? Asking only because I jumped the the car instead of leaving the battery on the charger, and before i jumped the car, the battery showed 2 volts. I was thinking that maybe the alt couldve went bad due to such a bad battery, and over worked itself and said, screw you Phil, you're making me do too much. I drove around on it a little bit and let it idle for about 8 min after driving......
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I don't know...it can cause the alternator to get too hot if you ran it a long time making it charge. It would take a load test to show if it is failing.
Let the car idle, turn on all the lights, and see if the voltage holds steady.
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Ok. Before i replaced the battery, the alt had charged it back up to 11.6 volts. The bat was shot by then tho so i guess it doesn't matter.