74 Dart Sport dash problems

[falconsdart]

So my alternator gauge works fine as well as the oil and brake light but the temp gauge and fuel gauge never worked. Was wondering if there was a way to check if the voltage regulator is bad. Also my radio randomly stopped working a while back, maybe my speaker went out? Any help is much appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

[falconsdart]

Problem solved.

 

[67Dart273]

Uh, OK LOL

 

[Rustedwrench]

Always glad to help.

 

[Sean Stacey]

Hey Falconsdart, what was the problem with the Fuel and Temp gauge? I've got the same problem. -Sean

 

[falconsdart]

Well I replaced the voltage limiter inside the cluster, and that fixed the temp gauge but my gas gauge barely moves up above empty so I think its the fuel sending unit that will fix my gas gauge. But once I replaced the voltage limiter my temp gauge worked perfectly fine. My gas gauge would to but I have a bad sending unit

 

[Sean Stacey]

Gotcha, I did the same thing with the limiter but it didn't work. But in taking the cluster out of the dash I noticed that the three bottom screws holding the cluster into the dash framing were stripped out. Replaced screws with the next size bigger and cleaned all grounding surfaces, put old limiter back in and everything worked again. Ended up being a ground issue the whole time.

 

[TrailBeast]

Gotcha, I did the same thing with the limiter but it didn't work. But in taking the cluster out of the dash I noticed that the three bottom screws holding the cluster into the dash framing were stripped out. Replaced screws with the next size bigger and cleaned all grounding surfaces, put old limiter back in and everything worked again. Ended up being a ground issue the whole time.

That is exactly why a dedicated ground from the body to the cluster is a good idea.
Your wiper switch also grounds through the cluster, so an even better reason not to count on those screws for a ground.

 

[falconsdart]

Glad to hear its all fixed up!

 

[RedFish]

That is exactly why a dedicated ground from the body to the cluster is a good idea.
Your wiper switch also grounds through the cluster, so an even better reason not to count on those screws for a ground.

The copper trace on the board must make good connections to the screws. Otherwise a ground wire at a single location wouldn't cure all.
For some of the cast pot metal housings, consider a longer screw before a larger diameter screw. There may not be a lot of material present in either direction.