I appear to have a short in the printed circuit of the dash cluster, but I don't understand it. I keep blowing out the 3.5A fuse for the cluster lights.

I'm sure the problem is in the cluster, because my check light (jumpered across the fuse holder w/o the fuse) dims when I plug the cluster connector into the printed circuit board. (Other possibilities were the cigar lighter light and the heater control light, which are on the same circuit).

I have checked the resistance of the bulb circuits on the printed circuit board. The problem is with the circuit with the two lights that actually illuminate the cluster (upper ones, either side of center). With the bulbs in place I only get 2.5 Ohms resistance across them. All of the other bulb circuits on the board have 5.0 Ohms. They are all new bulbs, and I get the same results if I swap bulbs. Resistance across each bulb individually is about 5.0 Ohms. I guess this all make sense for two resisters in parallel using Ohms law.

I can't see anything wrong with the printed circuit board.

Is there any way to clean or repair the printed circuit board?

Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me solve this problem?

Thanks!

 

If you're sure it's the printed circuit in the cluster, it's probably cheaper and easier to go to any wrecking yard and pull the cluster out of another truck. Every week I go to the junkyard here in Southern California and there are always 4 or 5 trucks at any given time in it. Nobody wants the cluster, so sadly they end up getting crushed. Last I checked they go for about $5 or something like that. You might also want to open up your cluster and check to be sure that somehow something did not get stuck on the circuit that might cause the short, i.e. greasy cat hair, or dust, or a piece of solder or something. Carefully dust the thing off with a soft paint brush and try it, it might just work.