Dash gauges inop 1988

[salem1912]

Looking for help with gauges inop. Print board has several burnt sections. Any soures for this board? Is there a voltage regulator for the dash board like the old Mopars?
Thanks Tom
1988 D50
auto a/c
4wd

[tortron]

There is a voltage regulator near the dash in the loom.
If you can't find a spare cluster you may be able to repair it with a conductive pen, or soldering some jumper wires. I have one you can have but it's here in NZ

[geezer101]

It is uncommon for an instrument panel to blow tracks like that. Was the circuit board damaged by moisture/corrosion? If there is an electrical fault somewhere in the wiring, you'll need to rectify it before replacing it (I'd recommend sourcing a whole used instrument cluster and installing it). Try tortron's suggestion of running jumpers on the panel just to see if you can get the gauges to work first. Don't solder them in though - only test the gauges out for function. If they work then I'd get another cluster, it's really not worth the headache of having a bunch of bridging wires all over the circuit board (IMO)

[pennyman1]

It also depends on where the traces are blown and what they go to. If someone put the wrong bulbs in, it could have drawn too much power and toasted the traces. The flexible board traces do not have a high current rating, and after 25-30 years they get brittle and fail from fatigue from heat - cold cycles

[tortron]

Dont run 12v through the gauges directly, they will blow (burn out the fine wires inside) I think they are 10v

[85Ram50]

Looking for help with gauges inop. Print board has several burnt sections. Any soures for this board? Is there a voltage regulator for the dash board like the old Mopars?
Thanks Tom
1988 D50
auto a/c
4wd

I got a unit for my 1st gen at the boneyard and just took the circuit board of it and put it on my existing unit so I didn't lose the odometer reading. if you don;t care about that you can probably just replace the unit with a used one if the 88 is similar to the 1st gen. EDIT I do not recall how I did it. I'm pretty sure it was plug and play but that may not apply to your 2nd gen.

[geezer101]

Gen 1's have a solid PCB, Gen 2's have flexible 'ribbon' boards. Normally the pin-out connections have rubbish soldered joints and a quick hit with a soldering iron fixes them (I was plagued with dead instruments and back lights in one car - it was an easy fix once I figured out it was a dry soldering issue)

[salem1912]

I got the gauges working by bridging the burn't section. Going to put a in-line fuse in. Don't know why it happen and it wasn't the 7volt section that still good.

[salem1912]

Thanks for the help guy's.

[Kelly from florida]

Anyone still following this thread? I'm having a similar issue with my lights and gauges. I bridged a section of my circuit board and cleaned corrosion but that didn't seem to be the issue for the gas gauge. the rest of my dash is working a lot better but still no gas. Think it could be the float? I feel like thats a whole other can of worms.
anyone had similar issues?

photos are worth a 1000 words, so here are some:

2497224973

[geezer101]

Disconnect the fuel float sender and use a pocket multi meter to test resistance across the connections. If you don't get a reading (open circuit) then the sender is toast. Try giving the terminal connections on the sender and the harness a clean - could be a bad connection (worth a try...) Anyone who passes this post - take note of image #2. That is the infamous service light reset switch ;)

*Oh - And nice solid state shifter handle :grin:

[Kelly from florida]

So this is my first venture using a multi meter (and honestly, car repair all together). I've got the manual, and am trying to look at electrical diagrams. Honestly, i'm very lost, and now i've bumped something related to my headlights, which have stoped working, so that should be fun finding that... i'm sure another post down the line.
question: Where might I find the terminal connection for the sender? by the tank? The Haynes manual i have, doesn't really say much about the fuel sensing unit.
on a more positive note, the temperature gauge is working very well now (it was only working intermittently before). I've read on here the fuel and temp gauge are linked on the circuit board. Does this maybe mean its not the board?
and, for the sake of more photos. here's the second time I took my dash cluster apart in hopes of finding a loose ground.
24977
thanks for all the help!

[geezer101]

The sender unit is actually in the fuel tank. It drops in from the top of the tank and is held down with 5 screws. If the tank hasn't been touched, this is gonna be messy (expect a lot of dirt and road debris up under there) I know you have no hope in hell of accessing it in a Gen 1 without dropping the tank so I would imagine it'll be the same story for a Gen 2. Your little pocket multi meter will become your best bud once you get to know how to use it. Good news - there are new sender units available for Mitsubishi trucks so if it is dead, you can get a brand new one without having to play roulette with a used one from the local JY (if you can even find one) I posted up a link for a member that I'd found on ebay a while back.