Howdy everyone. So got a tricky issue. Bought this truck a year ago. When you start the truck all of the gauges flicker ( the gas gauge goes from E to quarter back to E to half back to E then to three quarters then starts all over again) all the gauges do this. The digital odometer goes from blank to full illumination and back in time with the gauges. The temperature display does the same thing on the roof. Truck starts and runs fine, but when the emergency brake is engaged the gauges stop flickering and they all read at the 25% mark. Power windows, radio, power locks and exterior lights have no problems. The guy we bought it from said everything worked when he bought it, but it sat without a battery for quite a while. Any suggestions? Going kind of crazy here

 

Start checking body and dash grounds.

 

That is tomorrow's project if it doesn't rain....gotta love wiring gremlins

 

Well, things get loose over the years. It may be a ground close to the cluster. you never know...'


Make sure first that the 2 bolts behind the kick panels that hold the dash frame to the body are tight. The conduct almost 100% of the ground paths from the dash. When people do heater cores or evaporators, they often leave one of them loose. Actually, since it changes when you mess with the parking brake, you may be vibrating/shifting a loose dash frame then????????

 

I have no idea. I can do almost everything else on a vehicle except transmission and electrical. It is raining today, we don't have a garage. I figured out that the dash has been removed before so there could be many problems, seeing as most of the wiring has had stuff spliced before.

 

 

 

The parking brake switch is hard wired to the instrument cluster and closes to ground when the parking brake is applied. You might have a grounding issue. I recommend pulling the cluster and testing grounds at the cluster connectors. Pull the cluster by first removing the black dash bezel -- it is held with clips, then undo the four screws holding the cluster. Ensure that on cluster connector C1 pin 4 (black-tan) is a good ground. Ensure that on cluster connector C1 pin 5 (black) is a good ground. Then ensure the following ground connections are good (clean, wires not stripped or chafed):

1. G106 Left Front Inner Fender Cluster Ground
2. G110 Left Front Inner Fender Dash Ground
3. G200 Lower Left of Instrument Panel
4. Engine grounds depending on your engine

G106 and G110 Ground Connections
G200 Ground Connection and Cluster C1 and C2