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79 K20 gauge cluster went nuts!?

Got Smoke?

1/2 ton status
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Nov 23, 2005
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Bethpage, TN
Ok started pulling apart my dash cluster the other night to repalce the dim regular bulbs with LED's. Well I didn't have nut drivers to get the screws holding the cluster to the frame so being impatient I reached around behind the cluster and replaced the few I could reach.

Okay at this point with like 3 or 4 LED's in cluster nothing happened.

Today I went to my parents garage where all my tools are and pulled the cluster all the way out and replaced ALL the bulbs in the twist locks with LED's. Red single elements for the gauge back lights and single white elements for the turn signals & high beam indicator. I also took this opertunity to rob some gauges from a spare cluster my Cousin had out of a 84 or 86 Chevy truck. The popped in just like they belonged there and they all worked before I put the dash back together.

Get the dash completely back together and turn the key on and all the lights come on. Gauges, turn signals, high beam indicator...all on...none flashing. Also the only gauge out of all of them (oil pressure isn't hooked up I currently have a set sun pro trio using the stock location) is the voltage gauge. The one I removed did not read accurately so this was one small sign of relief. The gas gauge & temprature gauge both quite working worked fine before the LED swap.

So I figure the old wiring isn't happy with all the LED's so I pulled the choke, brake, turn signal and high beam indicator lights back out and replaced them with regular bulbs. At this point my voltage gauge still works, my gas gauge reads properly until I pull my head light switch on, and the turn signal and hi beam indcators don't burn constantly.


I'm stumped...anybody had any similar issues?
 
I found my problem to all my screwy gauges when I pulled my cluster out to remove the led's. One of the copper or whatever electrical ends that the wiring harness plugs into on the printed circuit got bent up and twisted without me realizing it. I smooth it out and lightly touched them up with Emory cloth and now all my gauges work again.:woot:
 
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