One of the biggest - by far - problems I am seeing regarding dash clusters is related to the lamp sockets. Corrosion has set in and the socket contact to the lamp wires is failing in a big way.
The light bulbs used have a wire loop contact on each side of the bulb. To make the connection, the twist-lock socket has brass terminals which clamp around the wire loops in the bulb.
When the brass contacts the steel wire loop and electrical current passes through, galvanic corrosion begins. Eventually, the corrosion separates the metals, causing a defective electrical connection.
I have repaired hundreds of dash clusters and have found the problems described above in almost every dash. How do you prevent it?
You can't. It's not supposed to last 25 years (planned obsolescence). How do you repair it? Pull each socket off the dash, and hit the external contacts with a pencil eraser (the contacts mated to the flex PC board). Then use that same eraser on the bare copper flex board contacts, both at the lamp location and at the connector bulkhead location.
Once you have the socket out, pull the wedgelock bulb out (while you're at it, clean the bulb - they are dirt magnets for some unknown reason). Upon close examination, you will likely find corrosion on the looped wire contacts of the bulb. You can lightly scrape those loops to remove the corrosion and reveal shiny metal beneath it.
FYI, I RARELY find a burned out bulb - they almost always work once the corrosion is removed. Most of the burned out bulbs I find are the blue colored ones which run hotter (due to the blue coating).
Now look at the internal contacts in the socket. These are more difficult to repair, but it can be done. Reaching inside with a hobbyist knife, scrape the contact area on both sides - even though you will only connect on one side - and repeat it for both contacts (don't be afraid to get Medieval on it - the corrosion goes deep). Squeeze the contact sides together using a small screwdriver, to provide a tighter contact to the bulb loops.
Don't skip this one: Using a 9 volt battery and paper clips, rig a connection between the battery terminals and the light bulb to determine that the bulb is good. Then put the bulb into the socket and repeat the test on the socket contacts. If it lights, you're good to go. If it doesn't, remove the bulb and
carefully bend the wire loops around to the opposite side of the glass wedge. Try it again until it works.
If all the above fails, replace the bulb and twist-lock socket. Chances are real good that this procedure will work for you. Do it to all the bulbs in the cluster.
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here.
...but here is where i think the problem is..i had the glove box open i closed it and the volts returned to 13.7. i took it for a ride and a couple of miles of driving it happened again so i started to hit the dashboard around the glove box area and volts went back up
