curtisr

Sigh, my long-lived love affair with my '82 may very well be coming to an end.

After a well-researched rehearsal, I removed the pod in order to have a look at the lights in the dash panel and, of course, replace the ones that were no longer working. To my mind this would be all of them as the interior light fuse was fine, and I am sure that they had worked before but it just wasn't lighting up my life.

I've owned the car for five years now and have experienced much in the way of electrical gremlins playing havoc with my wits but no amount of effort was going to see me through this. It got worse and not better. Now it's not just the dash lights but the gauges too. While I'm sorta used to having the gauges--in turn--work today but not necessarily tomorrow I wasn't prepared for what seems like a complete reversal (in fortune).

Now:

a) none of the dash lighting is working. The idiot lights are good (thank goodness) but there is no illumination. I hope that tying the potentiometer lines together will fix this. This goes for the switches (lights, fog lights, etc) as well.

b) the voltage indicator worked perfectly at first and the next day it doesn't work at all

c) the gas gauge is now pegged at 4/4 where it used to be stuck at 1/4

d) the tachometer doesn't show anything until I am going down the street. It seems to be off (low) by a thousand or more

e) the speedometer is also showing a much lowered number: 60 miles an hour shows up as 30 mph.

f) the mpg gauge isn't registering anything now

g) the coolant temperature starts and stays pegged at max, and

h) the oil pressure is also reading max whereas it used to work properly.

Naturally, I checked the electrical connections to make sure each had the correct orientation and placement and I think I returned everything as it was.

It's just that I so DO NOT want to remove the pod again!!!

Suggestions are more than welcome. I'll be in the garage waiting.

crustychief

Don't hate! The second time you remove the pod takes half the time. seriously, remove it, get a couple of new pencils and use the eraser to clean the contacts on all the electronics. Use some de-oxit to help with the connectors. you will be amazed and satisfied. I know I only have a couple of posts on Rennlist but I am a lifelong German car fanatic and am an electronics technician by trade. you just have some less than optimum connections going on.

curtisr

Thanks for the tips, Crusty, or is it the opposite... I have some tuner cleaner but the eraser idea is new to me.

I do know, however, that sometimes the best solution is to wwlk away sometimes and leave things for another day. Think I'll follow this path for now anyways.

linderpat

This sounds like a classic grounds problem - clean every ground on the car - make them nice and shiny! There is one at the engine and passenger engine bay, some by the jump post, others at the CE panel on top into the firewall, and so forth (do a search, they are well identified). Often times, these electrical gremlins are caused by dirty grounds. Also, make sure everything on the bck of the pod is connected properly. Yes it's a PIA, but pull it again, and as mentioned, carefully clean all contact points with a pink pencil eraser.
Lastly, for now at least, take a couple of good pictures of your CE panel in the footwell, and post the pictures in this thread. Consider too doing the CE panel refresh - an easy job, just take your time and be careful unplugging the harnesses. Here's a good write up - I've done this job on all of my sharks: http://members.rennlist.com/sharkski...04-Bzzzzzt.htm (this is from an early shark, but the concept applies to all models)

crustychief

I would say to clean the grounds but apparently all these different problems manifested themselves after the POD removal. Great suggestions linderpat.
.

The Deputy

Though cleaning your grounds is always a good idea...I don't believe this has anything to do with your problems. Normally, if you lose a ground at the instrument cluster...all gauges will flat-line...not peg to highest reading. Sounds like you either have the two plugs on each side of the cluster panel in the wrong position, which I know you said you checked, but it just seems as though gauges are getting the wrong data from their sending units, or you have to clean all of the terminals and printed circuit board as preciously suggested, or you boogered something up on the printed circuit board while reinstalling.

Regardless, the pod needs to come off again for further inspection and repairs.

Side note...never hate on your car...just think how your wife would treat you if you mentioned you hated her, yep, no dinner for you...same rule applies to 928's...you have to love and embrace them, even in the worse of times. And this also brings up another similarity...they both demand half of your income...so if you have a wife and 928...well, you get the picture.

Good luck.

Brian.

curtisr

I am humbled and will cooperate. Thank you all for your suggestions. And in the words of the owner of Rick's Cafe: "Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But who knows? This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship..."

curtisr

I've wondered about this and have taken steps to make it happen. First I bought a donor panel and then blade-style blocks and new female relay receptacles all with the view of not only refreshing but making the CE better. I hope to finish this over the winter.

dr bob

Over the years I've learned not to work on the car when I hate it. The tendency is to work mad/blind, bull-in-a-china-shop, and inevitably do much more harm than good. Instead, I try and set a reasonable goal for each session, plan it carefully with tools and parts. Most importantly, have a plan/strategy for the session that includes failure and recovery options. That way, at the end of a session I have success, with either a working system or a well-defined path to a working system. Then there's the masochist in me that loves a good electrical challenge, and the thrill of victory.

In a past career, I taught a class or three on "logical problem solving" for maintenance people in the manufacturing industry. Divide and conquer is the preferred method, working to trim down the list of potential causes in a structured manner until we either stumble on the cause along the way, or narrow the list of possibilities to the one thing that it has to be. It's a three-day seminar that covers electrical, mechanical, and hydraulic systems. I'll share also that the easy take-away of a structured diagnostic plan is structured record keeping and from that a predictive maintenance program. That's a separate story though.

Regardless, the car you hate is a system of things that don't last forever without help. It was designed and assembled by humans, so can be diagnosed and cured by them too.

upstate bob

Good you reported the individual gage showings.... Disconnect the gas level sender, looks like a dead shiort there. One short to ground will screw up all your other resistance type gages.

James Bailey

If all these problems happened AFTER you removed the instrument cluster why would you be trying to "fix" the central electric panel now ??? That is like going to a Proctologist when you are having heart trouble.....
Focus on what you did wrong at the foil cluster on the pod. Often the plastic tabs get broken or the foil folded or torn. General rule on repairs is go back to the last thing you "fixed" FIRST .

curtisr

Electrical gremlins reared their ugly heads while in the possession of the previous owner(s) and certainly mine almost immediately. I checked each and every fuse holder and relay receptacle for continuity and correct voltage readings. I was not completely surprised to find two fuse sites to have only 7v. In addition, two of the female relay connections showed evidence of burning. Some cleaning, wiggling and otherwise and the issues were fixed. A phantom drain led me to fuse pulling and pushing with various results (breaking a couple of ceramic fuses) and watching some pop-out as a result of poor installation on my part and this along with the aforementioned concerns, has led to a desire to do a CE retrofit. I just need more time.

Good advice. Thank you.

Barry Chan

How about just buy a rebuilt cluster from our vendors?

curtisr

I will disconnect this and see what happens.

Curiously, the near-empty warning light worked despite the apparent fault in the car's ability to tell me what the level of fuel is. While I don't drive far, that's one feature I would be reluctant to give up.

curtisr

There's a thought. Suggestions?