I just bought an 89 f-250 diesel. and the speedo works but no other gauges do. all the lights work in dash. but charge doesnt move nor does coolant and fuel stys pegged to full and after start oil pegs to high side. tach also doesnt register. i switched with a known working dash. and it did the same thing. any idea where to start? ....

 

Definantly sounds like a bad ground wire....

 

speedo is cable driven , gauges are electric ! whats all the rest of the wiring in the truck look like ? and check all your fuses , and all the connectors , and like SW said the grounds ! and your fusible links that come off of the starter solenoid !

 

might be a bad ignition switch, check with Ford, and see if the recall was preformed on your truck.

 

wiring all looks good. doesnt even look tampered with. all fuses and fuse links good. i do know the steering column and ignition was swapped out of another truck before i bought it and gauges have never worked since i owned it. do those gauges tie togher through the ignition switch?

 

i am not sure but there could be a INSTRUMENT VOLTAGE REGULATOR on the cluster that may be bad , they use to be and the 89 may or may not have one !

 

Good possablity is the ignition switch is not aligned properly. The switch is below the key lock assy and is operated by a rod. On the actual switch there are sloted mounting holes, you loosen the bolts up and slid the switch to where it works with out issues. What is probly happening is the switch is stuck on the gauge test mode while starting and is not comeing back off when in run mode. I had this happen on my 89 F250 and it was a simple adjustment, but a pain to do as I dropped the steering colum down to acces the ignition switch mounting bolts.

The 87 and up clusters do not have the voltage regulator like the 80 to 86 trucks have.

 

i will check that ignition switch out this evening. i feel i should also mention my glow plug system is not working too. not light nothing. all 8 plugs test fine. just replaced gp relay. not the problem voltage does make it to the relay tho. could this also be due to mis aligned ignition switch??

 

It's possible... you might check all the fuses with a test light... sometimes they "look" good but are not good...

 

ok tried that trick with ignition no improvement. ichecked all fuses in box with test light all ok...more detailed discription now...glow plug relay has power at 3 terminals when key on the one with the squiggly piece does not activate at all?? and for gauges
key off volts low end of scale temp low end fuel close to full which its not tach on 0 and oil press in middle of dial.
key on volts go to 12 stays around 13 running. temp nothing moves up slightly after running not close to actual temp. oil press goes to low then running it pegs to high off scale. fuel pegs to over full and stays. tach bumpswhen key turned on but no other movement. im thinkin a fault somewhere in the run start of the ignition sys somewhere?

 

FIXED!!! turned out to be the wrong dash. had a gas dash installed. by a stoke of luck seen a diesel at the junkyard and thought what the hell...IT FREAKIN WORKED. everything except full gauge anyway. lolwould have never thought it.