88 Sr5 Gauge Cluster Just Went Out
Nov 27, 2018 | 08:50 AM
#1
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88 Sr5 Gauge Cluster Just Went Out
I was replacing the 3 backlight and 2 blinker bulbs with leds, plugged it back in, saw a puff of smoke, and now non of the gauge except the speedo work. All the lights work in the dash and front and back though. Took the cluster back out but don't see anything that looks fried or anything. Any ideas on how to fix this thing or where to start looking? Thanks,
Dave
Dave
Dec 1, 2018 | 07:20 PM
#3
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Next time you do something electrical where you do not need power to be on, disconnect the negative side of the battery from everything.
Dash backlighting comes from tail light power.
Gauge operation takes power from engine fuse.
Check fuse, don't just look.
You'd need battery to be connected to perform below. Be careful.
Take voltage measurement before fuse, after fuse and the points indicated in red below.
Dash backlighting comes from tail light power.
Gauge operation takes power from engine fuse.
Check fuse, don't just look.
You'd need battery to be connected to perform below. Be careful.
Take voltage measurement before fuse, after fuse and the points indicated in red below.
Last edited by RAD4Runner; Dec 1, 2018 at 07:23 PM.
Dec 1, 2018 | 07:26 PM
#4
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From: Portland, Oregon, USA
EDIT: I see RAD4Runner beat me to it 
, but I will leave what I wrote below:
That is not good......
Were you able to follow the smoke and find where it originated from?
The only gauge that does not require electricity to work is the speedometer as it is mechanically driven by the speedometer cable.
Did anything else stop working after the gauges stopped working? Does the engine start and run? This information will help us narrow our focus.
It is probably not safe to assume the fuses were checked if it was not mentioned so.......
Did you check any of the fuses?
More specifically, did you check the 15 Amp ENGINE fuse?
The ENGINE fuse (and its circuit) supplies the positive voltage to the gauge cluster gauges, while the TAIL fuse supplies positive voltage for illumination (back lighting).
Each gauge grounds through different paths.
It is best to test fuses with a multimeter or test light as sometimes a fuse may visually look fine but will be "blown" just enough where it stops the flow of electricity.
Do you have a multimeter and know how to use it?
, but I will leave what I wrote below:That is not good......
Were you able to follow the smoke and find where it originated from?
The only gauge that does not require electricity to work is the speedometer as it is mechanically driven by the speedometer cable.
Did anything else stop working after the gauges stopped working? Does the engine start and run? This information will help us narrow our focus.
It is probably not safe to assume the fuses were checked if it was not mentioned so.......
Did you check any of the fuses?
More specifically, did you check the 15 Amp ENGINE fuse?
The ENGINE fuse (and its circuit) supplies the positive voltage to the gauge cluster gauges, while the TAIL fuse supplies positive voltage for illumination (back lighting).
Each gauge grounds through different paths.
It is best to test fuses with a multimeter or test light as sometimes a fuse may visually look fine but will be "blown" just enough where it stops the flow of electricity.
Do you have a multimeter and know how to use it?
Last edited by old87yota; Dec 1, 2018 at 07:28 PM. Reason: RAD4Runner beat me at posting.....
Dec 1, 2018 | 07:28 PM
#5
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The dash fuse looked fine but Ill need to find this engine one youll are talking about and check it. The new led lights all work fine and no other issues. The instrument cluster was not connected to anything when I installed the bulbs. Is was after it was all back together and turned on for first time when this happened. Also, this was origianlly a 3.0 auto that was swapped to a 3.4 but still used the auto Sr5 cluster if that matters.
Last edited by Scroder; Dec 1, 2018 at 07:34 PM.
Dec 1, 2018 | 07:38 PM
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Dec 1, 2018 | 07:46 PM
#7
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The swap was done by a local guy before I recently bought it that has a great reputation doing these swaps. Also, everything worked fine the past month until i took the cluster out and swapped some LEDs in. If the engine fuse blew, wouldnt my blinkers not work either? Like i said though, the new LEDs bulbs still work and all tail lights, blinkers, etc do, just not the instrument gauges.
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Dec 1, 2018 | 08:08 PM
#8
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From: Portland, Oregon, USA
The engine swap does complicate things a bit for us because we do not know how the various wiring harnesses are connected.
Since we do not know how everything is wired, we can no longer be certain the the gauge cluster gauges get their power from the ENGINE fuse.
If the gauge cluster is still wired up just like the factory original 3VZ-E wiring, then if the ENGINE fuse blew, you should still have turn signals because they run off of the HAZ-HORN fuse.
Since we do not know how everything is wired, we can no longer be certain the the gauge cluster gauges get their power from the ENGINE fuse.
If the gauge cluster is still wired up just like the factory original 3VZ-E wiring, then if the ENGINE fuse blew, you should still have turn signals because they run off of the HAZ-HORN fuse.
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