Thread: instrument cluster problems...

my battery cables were secure.
all my alternator connections are secure
i checked all fuses inside car, those are fine
i had spare good relays and plugged and unplugged them and they made no difference.
im getting 11.0V reading from my turbo timer.
i replaced my battery with another battery that had perfect volts and still got the same reading

yesterday i was driving the car to see if i could get it to do it, and sure enough ti did, and for some odd reason for a second i got 13v and all of the flickering stopped all together.

i was reading and i seen some of the same things that have happened to other ppl and it turned out to be their voltage regulator in the alternator that went bad causing these problems.

if the cluster went bad though would it cause taillights and turn signals to not work? also the higher the rpm the flickering goes away then the lower the rpm the more it flickers/

i wonder what the possibility is its the distributor

i just checked the fuses in the engine bay and the rleays are working and the fuses arent blown so both fuses in the engine bay and the interior are fine. also relays are fine

also ihavent messed with a single thing in my car as far as electronics, the car only has wideband and turbo timer when it ocmes to electronics and those havent been touched, this is just out of the blue kinda thing, altho my lights for osme time have ever so slightly flickered, but nothnig that actually effected anything, i wonder if it was the voltage regulator/alternator, slowly going out

1) bad or intermittent ground
2) Alternator reads a good voltage, but it's on its way out

Mine did nearly the same thing, it was the ground not delivering that caused the relay to click, but in the end it was my 17 year old alternator - it read fine for Volts, battery was newish, too. My battery and brake dash lights also flickered. Tach needle jumped a bit, speedo was OK (mechanical). Everything else was fine incl signals, brake lights, but headlights would dim when I first turned them on.

Replaced the alternator, problem solved after chasing down some bad grounds (MAF ground, was messing with idle, my ground from the battery in the trunk, etc.).

It was really hard to find the cause, still not sure what was wrong with the alternator, I just replaced it about a year ago and no problems since.

Man I am glad my battery is in the trunk. One AutoX with my U13 they told me at tech to shield the terminals in case it got loose, if it hit the hood I'd be wishing I had put a postive terminal cover on. Sorry to hear yours caused so much damage. Every time I run into my cables being in the way in my B13 I don't mind so much anymore, the battery is dry and in a case.

my connection to my battery and very secure and have ben since the install of the battery

the battery is in good health, i get like a 12.6v stand still with engine off battery voltage

the battery is also relocated to the trunk so the connections hitting metal isnt possible, and the ground connection in the trunk is secure.

im thinking its almost 100% the alt

thanks for the ideas

Okay, so you get 12.6v reading at rest...but what about at idle? That one simple reading will give you an answer to your alternator theory. If it's below 13.5v, I'd say get it tested somewhere to verify the issue. If it holds steady 13.5~14.5, start looking elsewhere. It very well could be a weird ground problem or feedback loop tied in with the alternator. You know, the same thing that causes "alternator whine" in audio systems.

One other big point. If your dash is aftermarket (i.e., neon glow style), the flickering would occur anytime the voltage gets below 10.5 or 11v. Unlike the dash lights (which dim based on variable voltage), aftermarket deals are either on or off. The dimmer they come with adjust amperage instead. So, long story short, if your car is having voltage issues, and you have aftermarket gauges, it will cause your dash to flicker.

There's yet more possibilities here, but until I get a number on the voltage at the battery at idle, and you let me know whether or not you have aftermarket gauges (and if so, what kind), this is the best I can do without guessing too much

only gauges i have in the car is a aem wideband, and a apexi turbo timer, both are working perfectly as of right not they are both tapped into the iginiton for power as they come on only when igition is on. those are fine.

my cluster/dash is all factory no neon glow style.

i get a 12.6v at rest on battery and then when the car is on i get like a 11v to 10v charge. so its DEFINITLY under the voltage parameter that the alternator should be at. 10v to 11v i think definitly is screaming alternator

ive also pulled the lower part of the dash apart on the drivers side to look at all wiring and everything is wired up and secure....just trying to double triple and quad checked it

update: im getting extremely pissed off, i removed the alternator to have it checked and it was checked at autozone and it passed not oncer but twice, so i dont think its the alternator. that was alot of time wasted.

im leaning towards the battery maybe its low on acidwater or something becuase when i turn the car on acc on and engine off i dont get more than 11.6v altho im not sure weather or not the car was actually being charged by the alternator or not, so its up in the air weather or not if it was charged if it would hold a charge or not, or if the alt has been charging it and it hasnt been getting charged. i donno

anymore ideas im running out

ive checked the:
relays in the car
relays in the bay
fuses in the car
fusesin the bay
negative connections at battery
positive connections at battery
negative connection on the alt when it was in
positive connections on the alt when it was in
had alternator tested twice
belt on alt was solid when it was installed.

ALL ABOVED CHECKED OUT, so im at a loss

symptoms im having are as follows:
cluster lights dont come on when acc on engine off
cluster lights dont come on when engine on
when the car is reved to a certain point the cluster comes on but clicking noise by the bottom left of the dash by the fuses
at higher rev the lights dont flicker they stay on but when it goes lower in the rpm like idle it flickers more

heater blower isnt working
cluster isnt working
sunroof isnt working
rear tailights arent working
turn signals dont work

basicly no interior electrical running things work, unless the lights come on and flicker

ALSO the cluster clock comes on with the key out, but with the key in and turned to acc the clock goes off and its just a backlight

i pulled the battery out and went to autozone and had them test it and the battery came out fine.

they did say that there is a possibility that the voltage regulator could be bad and their testing machine could still say it was good so i donno

Your battery was fine, no doubt. 11.6v is perfectly fine voltage. Autozone "tests" alternators, but ti's a pass/fail test. It won't tell you what you really want to know; the voltage output maximum, minimum, and variance.

Your symptoms you listed off are still screaming for a fuse problem, most likely caused by a bad connection, crossed wire, bad ground, or ground loop somewhere. As you said, it is an electrical problem. As such, the only options here to check are
1.) the electrical components themselves,
2.) the wires,
3.) the source,
4.) the fuses and relays,
5.) the ground connections.
We've clearly ruled out #3 with the battery showing fine voltage. #2 is going to near impossible as you'd have to check every wire for both continuity and crosses, which requires you to dig up the harness and check each wire for possible melts. #1 is very unlikely seeing as everything is happening at once. That leaves #4 and # 5. Neither of which is necessarily a simple check and fix. Grounds (#5) you need to check the wires, the connections, the bolts and surfaces, the battery connections, etc. Needless to say you need to be extremely thorough. Fuses and relays (#4) consist of every fuse and relay under the sun (or hood, in this case). Fuses need to be both visually inspected and tested with an ohm-meter for continuity. Relays need to be removed and tested with a 12v source to ensure the contacts aren't worn and it is still energizing properly. This is also a very thorough and time-consuming process. Finding all those buggers can be a chore.

While it sounds like you do have an alternator issue, this should not affect anything while the car is off. Fix your electrical issues so everything works with the engine off, then move forward. Otherwise you've got too many variables.

Damn I'm having the same problem recently

Turn signals don't work or Brake lights, the park lights come on thou
you see my red lights in the back, but when I apply the brakes the brighter lights don't show.