After reading every post that I could find, I decided to tear into the dash and find out what's going on. The first night I had the car, one dash light was working and it quit on the way home. The temp gauge never got clear up into the operating range, even after a flush and new water pump and thermostat. The gas gauge worked intermittently and I checked the ground strap at the tank, everything looked fine.
When I pulled the instrument cluster today, half of the sockets that hold the dash lights were missing. The others were broken, missing one of the ears that hold them tight against the circuit board. The voltage limiter looked to be in place with no signs of anything being wrong. My plans are to replace the limiter, and all the bulbs and sockets.
I found a thread that recommended a socket from NAPA but wondered if anyone had any experience using these sockets? I don't want to buy 8 of them and then find out that they have to be rigged to fit a Dodge. I plan on changing the bulbs over to 194s.
Also, do you think the voltage limiter is what could be causing the intermittent gauge problems? I bypassed the ammeter and lubed the speedo cable while I was in there.
Here are some picts just for those who like them...
When I pulled the instrument cluster today, half of the sockets that hold the dash lights were missing. The others were broken, missing one of the ears that hold them tight against the circuit board. The voltage limiter looked to be in place with no signs of anything being wrong. My plans are to replace the limiter, and all the bulbs and sockets.
I found a thread that recommended a socket from NAPA but wondered if anyone had any experience using these sockets? I don't want to buy 8 of them and then find out that they have to be rigged to fit a Dodge. I plan on changing the bulbs over to 194s.
Also, do you think the voltage limiter is what could be causing the intermittent gauge problems? I bypassed the ammeter and lubed the speedo cable while I was in there.
Here are some picts just for those who like them...