Hey guys I just bought a 1981 F250 Ranger with a 351 4sp manual. I got a question for ya. Well the dash dont work... none of the gauges. BUT every now and again the gas gauge will kick on... JW WTF is wrong with this thing?? lol Ground wire? Also The Speedometer doesent work. Just wondering what causes it not to work? and is it a easy fix?
Thanks
Ron

 

Well first we need to know exactly what you mean the dash isn't working. Do you mean none of the gages? How about the lights? Those are on different circuits.

You gages have a resistor and a voltage regulator that supplies regulated voltage (about 5 volts) to the sending units as well as power the gages.

Your lights come off a circuit through the light switch and a separate fuse.

If nothing works (lights, gages and speedometer) then I would suspect someone has been up behind there hacking at things.

 

btw...your speedometer should be all mechanical with a cable from the transmission to the speedometer itself.

 

I've attached a couple pages out of the 81' EVTM on gages that will help you out.

 

Hey Grizzly,
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "BUT every now and again the gas gauge will kick on... JW". I don't do text-ese, so some of those abbreviations are lost on me (and others on the list, too). Probably can start with simple stuff and work to the more obscure.

Since the mechanical speedometer isn't working, I wonder if someone was trying to fix that and wound up disconnecting the gauge cluster. If the previous owner couldn't figure out what he'd done to it, he may have decided to sell it.

Do you have a manual for this truck, yet? I'd definitely get the Haynes or Chilton manual, or better yet, a Ford Service manual for it. Since your young, you can probably hang upside down under the dash with a light and maybe see if anything is disconnected while you're checking for blown or missing fuses. Good luck.

 

Try jiggling the key back towards yourself, the mechanisms gum up over time and the spring eventually doesn't have the power to fully turn the key to the RUN position.

 

That's a good point! I don't know what JW means, either, so I just ignored it.

Yes, Text-ese is not welcome or advised here....

 

MY BAD!!! JW= Just wondering hahaha. and the lights for the dash work! and every once in a while the gas gauge will come on and then go back off and show E. But the privious owner but a volt gauge, oil pressure and I forget what the other one is on the dash I guess to replace those? im just confused.... and for the spedo is that cable hard to change? and i havent figured out how to get the damn know off the headlight switch to pull the dash out... but hell everything else on the truck works radio,headlights,turnsignals,brakelights,roof lights even the dome light so thats why im a little confused with the whole deal...

 

Also I hate to be a pain in everyones butt but how do i figure out if the tank selector swich is working?

 

Like stated above....all you gages are on a separate circuit.

As for getting the head light **** off...reach under the dash to the head light switch itself. On the bottom of the switch, you will find a button. Push in on this button, that will release the shaft. The shaft and **** will all come out as one.

this will also turn all your lights on so you may want to disconnect the battery....or put the shaft/**** back in to turn the lights off once you have the dash bezel off.

 

Here is a pic of the truck. It is currently in Ohio at my cousins car dealership so i gotta get it back to Pa here soon! So I can start wrenchen!

 

Using Facebook as a source of your pictures here isn't really a good idea... Some people may not be able to see the pictures because they don't have FB accounts.

 

I have a FB account and still can't see it

 

So do I (have an account) and neither can I (see it).

He is trying to get us to see:

https-colon-slash-slashwww.facebook.com-slash-photo.php?fbid=2799422324386&set=a.1030531143212.4 862.1823370692&type=1&theater&notif_t=like

When I try to go there manually (obviously, fixing the URL) FB tells me:

 

probably have to be his friend to see his pictures....depends on his security settings.