instrument cluster ground

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aprfct0

aprfct0

1969 Notch
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Does anybody have pictures of where they added a ground wire to there cluster? None of my lights work on my 69 cuda and I have heard its from a lack of ground I have a new headlight switch in it and the fuse is good and most of the bulbs are good. Thanks for any help or advice
 
I don't have a pic but I added 1 to the metal dash chassis and a 2nd to the firewall were the rear engine strap grounds to the firewall then daisy-chained them to all of the - terminals.
 
Take a look at the pic...the screw by the top bulb holder is where we ran it with dads. We ran a wire and "strung" it from a couple of the screws on the circuit board. The last one was down at the steering column bracket.
Send me a pm with your ph # if I dont make sense.
 

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Also, there's a "trick" to dash lights.

The dash dimmer control gets power TO it from the tail fuse, goes through the dimmer, then goes out of the dimmer TO the instrument fuse. This is the small fuse on one end of your fuse panel marked "inst." Turn the switch to either "park" or "head," make sure the dimmer control is "turned up" and also wiggle it to be sure. The fuse should have power on both sides of the fuse.

Does ANY dash lamp, IE heater, radio, etc, work?
 
67Dart273 said:
Also, there's a "trick" to dash lights.

The dash dimmer control gets power TO it from the tail fuse, goes through the dimmer, then goes out of the dimmer TO the instrument fuse. This is the small fuse on one end of your fuse panel marked "inst." Turn the switch to either "park" or "head," make sure the dimmer control is "turned up" and also wiggle it to be sure. The fuse should have power on both sides of the fuse.

Does ANY dash lamp, IE heater, radio, etc, work?
Click to expand...

Yep, not that I know/understand everything you said Del, but I meant to mention the headlight switch is cheap and can be had from a jobber for around $15
 
Like I said it has a new headlight switch in it right now the only light on the dash that is working is the brake light. That's actually how I am able to tell if my bulkhead connector came loose lol I will check the fuses again tomorrow. I also noticed the new headlight switch I got has an extra spade on it on the housing I'm thinking its for a ground wire as well but the headlights work
 
Can you detail which terminal is unhooked? Mounting end of the switch is left in the diagram. Tan is the outfeed from the dash lamp dimmer control to the inst. fuse. There is no "ground" on the light switch. The yellow is grounded when you turn the knob full left to turn on the dome / courtesy lamps
 

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You can ground the instrument cluster with that ternimal added to the headlight switch only if it is a metal housing ( but then the plastci housings have ground wires ). Anyway.. If you were to pull the right kick panel you would find the heater case ground screwed to the inner panel. You can do the same behind the left panel. Route the ground wire from there to the switch should be all you need. I put a male/female spade disconnect In a ground wire that is attached at panel screws. All you should need is a female connector and a ring terminal and a screw.
A lot of people do route the wire ground right to the column support But they'll need to lower the column to service the panel so their ground that could have been used for testing gets removed.
Hope this makes sense.
 
Hey guys I will get back to you when i get home I just got off work thanks for all the advice
 
a>
Switch_zpse6836ff8.jpg

Hopefully this picture works. I'm talking about the gold "tang" on the right hand side in the picture. It is a part of the metal case so I figure it is for a ground.
And Steve the bezel is in the car right now. It's not that big of a deal to take out since I have no wiper switch or heater controls hooked up. I understand what you are saying about the screws, I wasn't sure if that was the common spot for a ground to be hooked up.
 
Dash2_zpsc634e0ba.jpg


Hey Steve I drew out what I think you are talking about. The arrow dictates the wire going to be connected to a ground source.
 
Yep thats it, at each screw use a ring terminal. And that is the right headlight switch as well. I was wondering about the same thing with dads 67 as there was a h/l switch with the tang, and one without. Its a ground. If you are taking the inst bezel out, may as well clean the back of the circuit board well. Hey while I think of it, you might want to put LED's in instead of the std bulbs. The led's from what I have read on here are way better. Apparently they are as simple as replacing the bulbs. Try googling "super bright leds"
 
I have had the cluster out before the circuit board is clean. I do have a couple broken light sockets. I will need to replace those soon. I have heard good and bad things about LED's. I'm sure if I took the time I could wire them so they will work really good but not really at that point yet. I really just would like to see my cluster when driving at night.
 
Dad put all new 194 bulbs in it and it looks dim as heck at night...when it comes out of winter hibernation we are going to replace them with LED's. What bad did you hear about LED's??
 
I heard that they didn't really make it any brighter and the light that the LED puts off interferes with the color cover that the factory had put in so it doesn't look right. Not really sure of how else to explain that. The green tint of the light is incorrect and they don't really help. Hope that kinda makes sense.
 
Interesting...... when you get yours done send me a pic. I'm curious to know what they look like with the factory gauges.
 
Now, that's by golly GROUNDED!!! I'm not finding fault, 'cause I believe overkill beats the hell out of no kill.
That said, I would bet dollars to donuts that a single wire from any of those points you daisy chained to a good solid chassis ground would work just as well.
The stock arrangement used the contact between the metal dash frame and the metal cluster assembly via the cluster mounting screws to ground the cluster.
Over the years, rust, corrosion, vibration and gremlins have made that system "iffy".
And if you're gonna work on the cluster in the car you'll get nowhere without a separate ground wire.

ATB

BC
 
64ragtop said:
Now, that's by golly GROUNDED!!! I'm not finding fault, 'cause I believe overkill beats the hell out of no kill.
That said, I would bet dollars to donuts that a single wire from any of those points you daisy chained to a good solid chassis ground would work just as well.
The stock arrangement used the contact between the metal dash frame and the metal cluster assembly via the cluster mounting screws to ground the cluster.
Over the years, rust, corrosion, vibration and gremlins have made that system "iffy".
And if you're gonna work on the cluster in the car you'll get nowhere without a separate ground wire.

ATB

BC
Click to expand...

A daisy chain of parts and hardware isn't a conductor when compared to an actual copper wire. For that reason, If a wire was attached at only 1 screw that grounds a bulb socket, that bulb wiil glow a little brighter or a lot brighter than all others. A ground wire added at the headlight switch is a fairly level/equal ground when are the parts are new or renewed.
 
I used LED bulbs in my 65 Dart. They are at least as bright as the factory bulbs and give a slight bluish tint that looks modern. No special installation, I just looked for the bulb# on ebay and plugged right in. Came from Hong Kong and pretty cheap (~$1 ea).
 
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