1980 mustang instrument cluster

If I had any helpful advice to give, I certainly would...but I have no idea. I hate chasing electrical gremlins too and electrical stuff is really not my area of expertise.

By any chance, have you tried swapping out the gauge cluster for another one?

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.