1980 mustang instrument cluster

redstang80

New Member
Sep 21, 2008
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Hello everyone,

I have a 2.3L non-turbo mustang. For some time, I’ve been having electrical problems, mainly in the instrument cluster. After some fiddling, I was able to get the fuel gauge to work, but none of the others. I’m not sure if someone tampered with the wires going into the back of the cluster or elsewhere. I’ve checked the wiring diagrams that are in most car maintance books extensively, but had no luck getting these gauges to work. Does anyone know where I could get a diagram of how the wires are to go into the cluster, a diagram of the interior wiring, or another interior set of wires. Any other suggestions or questions as to what could be wrong are welcome, as I am running out of ideas.

Thank you for you help,

Steven
 
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Hi everyone,

First of all thanks to all who have looked at the post—thank you for trying.

This post is in conjunction to my first post.

I was looking at the wires and have come to understand the printed wires on the back of the instrument cluster. I was wondering if anyone could tell me, in general terms, where the wires are supposed to come from for each gauge (i.e. for the tachometer, oil gauge, temperature gauge, and volt gauge) I believe if I obtain this information, I could work my way to figure out where each wire should set in the printed circuit.

Again, thanks to everyone for looking and for all your help,

Steven
 
Hello,

thank you for responding.

I have tried 2 or 3 clusters, thinking that was the problem. Unfortunately, I have had no luck in any of them. In the same line of thinking, I checked the printed circuits on each gauge cluster for any breaks, and none were found.
 
Wiring diagrams for cars of the 79-86 era are really only available in the old Ford EVTM (Electrical and Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual) books. They can be had off EBay occasionally. Your best bet is to go on over to Welcome to FourEyedPride.com and post up over there about it. I am a member over there as well and I have yet to not have a question answered over there. To me, it sounds like a ground issue. I know quite a few guys have had non-working clusters because of ground or power supply issues.
 
The 80 Mustang cluster is pretty straightforward. The two wiring harnesses plug into the slots in the plastic housing and bend the printed circuit board connectors over in the sides of the slot. One trouble area is where the printed circuit bends into the connector slot, my 79 had the copper circuit part come loose from the plastic backing. Superglue can fix it, but you may have to glue it each time you pull the connector out.

Also, note that an 80 cluster and 82 have different wiring. I dropped my 80 cluster into my 82 and plugged it in and smoked several things. Traced the wiring , and yep, they are different.

The gages- fuel, temp and oil pressure, work by sending power out to the sending units which are variable resistors, and ground. So power has to come into the gage and out to the sending unit.

The little coils in the back of the gages can also fail. Check with an ohm meter.


With some patience you should be able to get it working. Also be careful because cluster plastic is old and fragile.
 
Re: 1980 mustang gauges problem

Hello everyone,

First off, a thank you to everyone who has responded, your suggestions are appreciated.

Second, I have visited foureyedpride.com and I am very impressed with the website and fourms. I think I will start posting there as well as here.

Finally, does anyone know where I can find replacement printed circuits. I have tried everything everyone has suggested including the wiring books for the specific year and model. Upon looking at my printed circuit, I suspect it is from a later model year. I can probably find one on ebay, but is there a cheaper route I can take in bypassing buying the gauges and the printed circuit?

Thanks again for responding.