patrick66
Well-Known Member
Recently, I sent the clock out to a converter for a quartz conversion. It works wonderfully! While I had the cluster out, I bypassed the ammeter, as one post was actually broken and spinning in the housing! I tried to get the radio to work, but it produces no sound, just a "booop" through the speaker when I turn the radio on.
So, I put everything back together and test-drove the Coronet. Most things looked good. The newly-installed voltmeter read 13.8 VDC at cruise speed. The car was running fine. But, when I turned the headlights "on", all of the dash lights came on, including the t/signal lamps, the high beam lamp came on; and the fuel gauge and temp gauge pegged high to the right! Oh, and I had not plugged the speedo cable in all the way, so the odo worked, but the speedo just sat there at zero. Now what...?
I knew I'd have to remove the cluster again to plug/screw the speedo cable all the way in, and I needed to check that big cannon plug at the back of the cluster. Maybe I didn't have that all the way in? Well, it was one pin off, which caused all of the cluster issues. Rotated it one pin left, and all was good again.
Everything was reassembled. Time to test things out...success! The gauges all worked, as did the lights and indicators. The radio is still tits-up, though.
I was in a hurry to reassemble things the first time and overlooked three separate things. Having to do a job twice sucks. So, all is well for the upcoming car show this Saturday, which is a 60-mile round-trip. I'm happy to have things in working order again.
Did this, and the front brakes on the Imperial convertible today. I'll get those drums turned tomorrow and reassemble that tomorrow afternoon after work. Then, I need to troubleshoot the front power windows. Never ends.
So, I put everything back together and test-drove the Coronet. Most things looked good. The newly-installed voltmeter read 13.8 VDC at cruise speed. The car was running fine. But, when I turned the headlights "on", all of the dash lights came on, including the t/signal lamps, the high beam lamp came on; and the fuel gauge and temp gauge pegged high to the right! Oh, and I had not plugged the speedo cable in all the way, so the odo worked, but the speedo just sat there at zero. Now what...?
I knew I'd have to remove the cluster again to plug/screw the speedo cable all the way in, and I needed to check that big cannon plug at the back of the cluster. Maybe I didn't have that all the way in? Well, it was one pin off, which caused all of the cluster issues. Rotated it one pin left, and all was good again.
Everything was reassembled. Time to test things out...success! The gauges all worked, as did the lights and indicators. The radio is still tits-up, though.
I was in a hurry to reassemble things the first time and overlooked three separate things. Having to do a job twice sucks. So, all is well for the upcoming car show this Saturday, which is a 60-mile round-trip. I'm happy to have things in working order again.
Did this, and the front brakes on the Imperial convertible today. I'll get those drums turned tomorrow and reassemble that tomorrow afternoon after work. Then, I need to troubleshoot the front power windows. Never ends.
