Cluster done lost it's mind

[theogre5150]

Ok...So while I was working on my Cigar Lighter issue, I seemed to have created another one. My plan was to work on testing out my electrical on the lighter this weekend so I re-installed the dash. I have removed and installed the dash 10 or more times since I bought the truck and had no problems. Well, now I've got problems.

1. Lights on dash barely light up.
2. Both turn signal lights and high beam light stay on.
3. When I turn on my left turn signal, the right signal light bulb flashes.
4. When I turn on my right turn signal, both flash along with the high beam indicator.
5. When I turn on my hazard lights, nothing flashes.
6. When I turn on my high beams, the light goes out.
7. Fuel gauge showing that I have a very full tank of gas. I don't. I have a little over a half a tank.

Keep in mind that this is only happening in the instrument cluster. I checked all lights on the outside and they are working.

I did have a hard time with the odometer cable this time so it is possible that I knocked something loose. Oh and since we are on the subject of the odometer, I am not getting accurate mileage. I drove the truck two weeks ago probably 30 miles or so. It shows that I ran around 60. That can't be right because I only drove it to work which is 8.5 miles from my house. Went home for lunch and back, then drove it home. That's 34 miles.

Sorry about the rant. I'll shut up now.

[kaptnkaos]

hey theogre...

hmmm interesting delimma... i have never heard of one doing that before...
It sounds like you have the connecting plugs crossed...
I dunno if you can actually do that or not...
you might try disconnecting everything then reconnecting it... and see if that helps.
Which year is yer rig? 67-69 are hard wired, the '70 has a flimsy printed circuit board, '71 & '72 regular circuit boards.
Did you disconnect the battery before you removed/installled the panel?
If not, that might have affected it some how... You could possibly have something else grounding or bridging the circuits.
Mines a '68 so everything is hard wired and I have never had any of those kind of problems...

good luck...
KaptnKAOS

[68F250]

Item #7 confirms what's wrong, you lost the chassis ground to the instrument panel ground.

The other items are happening due to the instrument panel ground trying to backfeed into the other circuits.

[theogre5150]

Fixed it. I removed the panel and found the culprit. The connectors for the plug on the instrument panel are starting to come off. When I removed the plug I noticed that three of the connectors were pushed over. I carefully put them back in place and plugged in the connector. Everything works now. Still not sure about the odometer. I am going to drive it to work tomorrow and see how many miles get put on it. Thanks for the responses on this.

[kid]

If the odometer is off the speed should be way off like double the driven speed. It could under-drive but not overdrive the odometer without overdriving the needle but you would hear noise from the odometer area.

[theogre5150]

I think that my odometer is ok. I drove the truck the past two days and it seems to be putting the right miles on it. I never pay attention in my car so when I started driving the truck I started to pay attention. I do not hear any noise coming from the odometer area. I will monitor it some more just to make sure.