Firechicken86

iTrader: (1)

I discovered this issue with my digital dash and it's driving me slightly insane. When I turn they key to turn the dash on everything lights up perfectly but if I was to lightly hit the top of my dash the speedo and gas gauge flickers and goes dim for each time I hit it, same with if I was driving and hit a bump it would dim and light back up super fast. This only happens to the gas and speedo gauge, the others are fine and it also seems to only happen randomly, sometimes I can smack the hell out of the top of my dash and it won't flicker at all. I've tried fiddling with the connection with no luck, I've checked the grounds and they all seem okay. Any ideas?

Firechicken86

iTrader: (1)

Here's a video of it:

John in RI

iTrader: (167)

VERY possible that it's a problem internal to the cluster or a bad / failing connection. ( broken lead in printed circuit on back of cluster perhaps ?? )

I posted a diagram of the 88 Digital GTA panel backlighting in this thread:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/inte...ital-dash.html


While searching for a resolution to this problem it might be worth checking out your remote dimmer.

Firechicken86

iTrader: (1)

Turns out you were right about the circuitry, one little section around the speedo area has separated from its two layers, and when I stuck my hand back there while the dash was on and wiggled it around it flickered and when I held the peices flat to each other it was a solid light. How should I stick these together? would spray adhesive work or would that mess it up?

John in RI

iTrader: (167)

Look REAL close - and touch it as little as possible. If your finger was toggling the problem ON/OFF then there's probably already a break in 1 or more of the circuits.

Berlinetta clusters are prone to printed circuit failure more than most other ThirdGens..... This is because of the extreme bent (and thereby stress) placed on the printed circuits ribbon cable right at the plug. The breaks in the circuit are usually hidden from view until the plug gets opened up.......




I'd 'guessimate' that about 1/4 to 1/3 of all thirdgen clusters I pick-up have a bad printed circuit. After 25+ years of service these things are simply beginning to break down at a surprising rate.

The separation isn't actually a "problem", but because the layers come apart it weakens the whole structure, exposes the circuit(s), and that usually leads to a break in the circuit. As long as the thin circuits are still intact and unbroken simply taping the outer edges is good enough to seal them back up. MAYBE sticking a very hot pin thru the PLASIC ONLY could melt/stick the 2 layers together again. I would not advise glue or spray adhesive...... I'm thinking those could lead to problems if a second repair is needed later. I've seen a lot of hacker repairs on these,.... usually a quality soldering job can correct a bad circuit.

Firechicken86

iTrader: (1)

I think I fixed it! I got a ton of electrical tape across the circuit board to hold it down tight and it doesn't flicker no matter how hard I beat the top of the dash. Thanks a ton for your help!

John in RI

iTrader: (167)

That's AWESOME !


It sure is nice when your able to fix somethin' that bugs the crap out of you !!

With any luck that repair will hold for a long time to come,...... Congrats on the sucsessful digital dash conversion !!

ramicio

iTrader: (-1)

Why is the video private?