Fried Instrument Cluster?

If its not one thing its another

Got turn signals & brake lights working (its finally street legal!)

In getting the brake lights to work the fuel started working intermittently, and the temp gauge stopped working.... thinking we had a bad connection a 12v wire was applied directly to the gauge and now it still didn't work....

I didn't know the constant voltage regulator lowered the voltage from 12v to 5ish? So my problem is either I need a new constant voltage regulator ($60) or a new cluster...(which i dunno where to begin)

What works
- turn signals
-speedo
- GEN light

What doesn't Work
-temp gauge
-fuel gauge
-oil light? (i have a peanut light in it, but not sure if its the correct one)


any thoughts? Checked fuses, all good

,,,start running the tests like chainsaw has to do on his wiring problem to figure out what parts are still good,,,,,,

All of the gauges work on a variable resistor that controls the amount of grounding.  If you run a direct ground to the sending unit of any of the gauges, they will read their maximum and go off the end of the gauge and burn it up.
  The resistor varies the incoming voltage and if you watch a gauge carefully you can normally see it pulse back and forth a tiny amount.  When I am looking for the fault, I normally start by simply grounding the sending unit side of the gauge, and if it starts working and goes all the way to the top of the gauge, that tells me right off the bat that their is an issue from that side of the gauge and rearward to the sending unit itself.  It could be a broken or cut wire or the unit itself.  To test that really quickly, simply ground the wire at the sending unit.  Again, if the gauge then works that is telling you that the issue is the sending unit. In the case of the fuel gauge, Ford used the body contact of the gas tank to the frame to complete their ground and after 50 years its prone to not making a good conection there.
  You dont need and complete new cluster, even if I have some here all done and ready,, all you need is a couple of gauges at the most and find out what the problem is. There is a pigtailed black wire that goes from your regulator to each gauge and supplies the incoming voltage to both gauges.  On the other side there should be a constant 12 to 14.2 volts incoming to that side of the voltage regulator.
 vic


In regards to the new regulator, I have a box of at least 50 of those things and can send you one USPS next week.  I may also have some NOS gauges left????  or also some used ones as well as full clusters.

,,,just make sure the Dash Cluster Voltage Regulator stays grounded before running tests,,,,

Here is some eye candy,,,  LOL

vic