Hello, I have never worked on a car before - I picked up a 88 Bronco in March and need to solve some issues.

None of the gauges work correctly
The ignition now rotates 360 degrees
The automatic shift is all over the place - the orange does not reallt indicate where you are "N" means drive right now.

This is a fun beater that I have not put over $1500 into yet.

So I am wondering if these are issues I can deal with and learn or should I just pony up the bucks and have the local garage take care of it.

Thanks
James

 

James,
Depending on how mechanical you are these are all issues you can take care of yourself.

The ignition probably turns 360 degrees because the retainer that limits the turn radius has been pushed back by someone trying to turn the ignition past the stop or just wearing over time. A new tumbler is $35.00 CAD (I priced one for my '89 2 months ago) and the Haynes tells how to swap it out - look under ignition switch and key lock cylinder.

The auto shift indicator is just a cable that is tired to the steering column and it moves the needle by rotating and pulling the string left or right. Playing with it yourself and checking to see if it is hung up or been broken and replaced before or improperly replaced might sort that out. It has nothing to do with the actual working of the transmission and isn't worth shop rate/hr to fix (IMO).

The gauges could be wiring, sending units, or the cluster. You can try pulling the instrument cluster and cleaning all the contact locations on the back where they plug in. Haynes has a good step by step for pulling the cluster. After that troubleshoot wiring by checking all connections and their sending units. A point brought up on another tread had to do with poor ground connections which could throw off the whole cluster too, I suppose.

Sorry so long but that's my take on your list. Good luck.

Woodler

 

Thanks = I am pretty mechanical - I can tear apart my computer and install a hard drive.

Haynes guides are pretty easy to get?

James

 

I don't know about in the states... maybe Autozone??? The Chiltons or Haynes manuals are pretty close. They are pretty easy to get here in Canada. Maybe one of you guys from down there could point him in the right direction.

Woodler

 

yea there real easy to get at autozone. u may also wanna check the connections on the sending units to ur gauges..ive had to do that to get several things to work right again, and use dielectric grease.