OK I bought a cluster in good shape and installed and the only light working was the left signal when used, so I replace all the bulbs just now with 194's and now nothing works. any idea?

 

I did something similar to my 77 f250. I used a cluster from a 79 f250 camper special and had to rewire the plug because it was bigger than the 77 plug. It took awhile to rewire it because I had to test each wire to see what it did and then go to the back side of the cluster and find the correct hole in the plug.

The cluster you bought, is it for the same year and model truck you have?

 

There are two different clusters for each year.

One with gauges, and one with idiot lamps.

They are not interchangeable with each other without major rewiring. And if you screw up, a fire can happen. Seen it happen.

There are also printed circut differences between the years as well.

Need to know what year the new cluster came out of, and also if it's ammeter and oil gauges, or idiot lamps.

 

The original I pulled had a red circuit board on the back and at first i got a blue circuit board and had to swap it out with another red one, after installing it the only light that worked was the left signal light, it has all gauges oil, temp, volt, fuel and speedometer also has brake light and one more if Im not mistaken. I dont understand how the one light worked and after pulling it back out to put new bulbs in it no longer works

 

Can you post the numbers printed on the circut board?

It will show numbers begining like the following...

D3TF
D5TF
D6TF
D9TF

Etc...

 

Did your original have gauges or caution lights?
If its the correct cluster clean all the copper exposed contacts with a nice big pink eraser. Same with the connector that goes to it.

 

I just did this to my cluster last weekend. Took about an hour. There should be 7 bulbs in little black twist in bulb holders. Each bulb slips into the holder and makes electrical contact off one side of the bulb. The holder is designed in such a way that it does not matter which way the bulb goes into the holder. It is best to have an electrical multi-meter to test everything, but you can do it without one. Points of electrical connection need to be clean and any are likely to be corroded and not making electrical contact. I could not see any corrosion, but I cleaned them anyway. Get some 1000grit sandpaper - your auto supply will have it in the body repair section.
Take out each bulb holder and pull the bulb out of it. Inspect the bulb and see if the element - the little wire coil inside looks broken or check continuity with the multimeter. My multimeter has a continuity check next to the "OHM" setting. If yours only has OHM setting look for 0 OHMs on the display with one lead on each side of the bulb. The continuity check will probably beep. What you are looking for is an electrical connection between the two leads. First check the bulb, if the bulb is good, then put the bulb in the holder and check for continuity, or 0 ohms, between the two lead on opposite side of the holder. If nothing? then pull the bulb and take the sandpaper and rub it across the wirres coming out of the bulb, across the connections inside the bulb holder (you will have to fold it up to do so) and across the connections on the outside of the bulb holder. The sandpaper cleans off any corrosion - remember these are 30 year old electronics. Once you have continuity between the two sides of the bulb holder, put it in the back of the guage panel and check for continuity between the two sides of the printed circuit board, you may need to polish off some corrosion here with the sand paper as well. Do this on all 7 bulbs and test each one for continuity before you put it back in. The main wire harness to cluster connection could use the same treatment as well. Clean the connectors and electricity will flow. By testing each bulb this way, you can know that the cluster is working, so any missing light might be due to a disconnect further upstream.
I know this looks like a lot of work, but it took only about an hour to pull the cluster and clean everything.