Long story short, the factory dash tach shows the truck is idling at 2,000 rpm but the AutoTap shows the truck is idling around 700 rpm. The exhaust note and engine pitch confirm a much lower idle as well. The volt meter has failed on the factory cluster so it appears more may be wrong....

Assuming the PCM is accurate, can the gauge cluster be fixed or should I pick up a new-to-me one? Installing another tach isn't an option at this point as the the volt meter is also shot (accurate voltage confirmed by the PCM).

Anyone run into this problem?

 

The gauges are driven by the PCM, if the PCM has accurate data, and the cluster LIES!!!!!!! (sorry) Grab a junkyard cluster, and swap it out.

 

Aside from the mileage is there any issue with swapping the cluster on a '96?

 

if you swap the whole cluster, match the optional items of gas/diesel, auto trans/manual, and the oh-so-important US-miles/KM-Canada.

i'm not sure, but you might be able to mix/match the individual gauges if you wanted to.

the ebay junkyards are pretty good about showing the multi-year fits. they put up listings like 94-94-96-97 on lots of parts.

your 96 is the first year of OBD-II, so it wouldn't surprise me at all to find limited multi-year fit, such as 96 only, or 96-97. if in doubt, just stick with your year.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll find out this morning if the truck will start without the cluster in the dash. Some trucks I've owned required the cluster to be in there or the security system freaked out and shut the truck down. Ford calls it PATS.... but I think it was 98 or 99 and up.... Do '96 Rams have a similar system? I'll find out shortly when I pull the dash and turn the key....

 

97 and back are pretty primitive. i'll bet that it starts w/o the cluster.

 

I recently performed some corrective work on the Speedometer of my 1997. Once I removed the cluster, I wanted to see if the truck would start. It did.

 

Yep.... started and ran like a champ.