Car won't charge after dash bezel removal

[Chrisssssssss]

Hey all,

I took off my dash bezel to clean it, now my car won't charge. I haven't put the bezel back on yet, but the car won't charge. Is it possible that the alternator circuit somehow runs thru the dash?

 

[aminga]

http://www.installationinstructions.com/FYI/alternator_charging_tech.pdf

Make sure the volt light comes on key on engine off

 

[whitehot1]

Hey all,

I took off my dash bezel to clean it, now my car won't charge. I haven't put the bezel back on yet, but the car won't charge. Is it possible that the alternator circuit somehow runs thru the dash?

You need to put the screws back in that hold the bezel and gage cluster pressed firmly seated into the dash so it makes a complete circuit so the volt light works when you turn the key to the on position before you start the engine.

 

[laws69cars]

Im new here but yes just to let you know I found out the hard way after changing a few parts on my 87 that the car will not charge properly without the cluster mounted on.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app

 

[Chrisssssssss]

Sooooo... I fixed the charging problem. Thanks for that. It took a lot of tweaking with the positioning of the bezel to finally get the charging system to work again - but I finally got it. HOWEVER, now my turning signal bulbs on the bezel do not light up. They were working fine before. The signals still blink and come on, but not the lights on the dash. Any thoughts?

 

[laws69cars]

Your not the only one having that problem. I took my cluster apart and when I put it back together I had my fuel light and brake light that stood on all the time and I have yet to figure that out so just removed the bulbs.. LOL If you figure anything out let me know.

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app

 

[hesermon]

corrosion, base of the bulbs, inside the socket, connectors, etc. Very common problem with any 20+ year old GM car. I've use emery cloth, battery cleaner with a tooth brush then elect. contact cleaner. Also, while putting the cluster back in you can easily cause a bulb that had been unmolested before to suddenly quit working. Good Luck!

 

[earlbrown]

pencil erasers work pretty good to clean traces too...

 

[Chrisssssssss]

ungh... why the heck did I mess with it. I wanted to get in and clean everything (that wasn't really that dirty in the first place) for the car show next weekend. I am gonna pull out the bulbs and replace them. Maybe with LED style while I have it apart, but I never took the whole cluster out. Is there an easy way to remove it? Should I completely remove the whole cluster including the speedo cable? Or is that looking for more issues? I just kinda took the faceplate off and removed the screws holding it in place, but it was still attached with the cable so I didn't pull it right out.

I also have a exhaust leak that sounds like its coming from the drivers side headers somewhere... but that's another story!

 

[earlbrown]

be glad you found the issue at home in the driveway. These cars will drain a fully charged battery in about 3 minutes. You don't want this issue when you're out and about.

 

[GNVenom]

Sometimes when you remove the dash cluster, the bulkhead connector snaps out of its cradle. The bulkhead has "bow" terminals that need to be under pressure when the connector seats on the flex board (behind your cluster). The flex board connects to each lamp socket. Aside from this mickey-mouse design, the bulb sockets have their own problems...corrosion that's inevitable. Read:

http://www.installationinstructions.com/FYI/alternator_charging_tech.pdf

for more details.

 

[Mike T]

Mine just stopped charging one day so I cleaned all of the connections and bulbs, now for some reason my w/s washer light comes on in place of my engine light. It works in the same way & even flashes trouble codes but I need to figure out what's wrong.

 

[GNVenom]

Look at page 5 of this:
http://www.installationinstructions.com/FYI/digitaldash.pdf
It shows the location of each lamp on the dash. You probably have the bulb in the wrong socket. The SES lamp has its own wires (not a stand-alone lamp assembly).

 

[Mike T]

Look at page 5 of this:
http://www.installationinstructions.com/FYI/digitaldash.pdf
It shows the location of each lamp on the dash. You probably have the bulb in the wrong socket. The SES lamp has its own wires (not a stand-alone lamp assembly).

That will be the problem, I put it in the unused spot. I thought that the SES bulb could be bad and that the w/s washer light could be the fail safe (Way over thought that one).

Thank you,
Mike