hey everyone, i have an '85 turbo GLL. while doing a radio install i managed to short something out and now the digital gauge cluster doesn't display anything. the "idiot" lights and warning lamps still light up with ignition on, and the cluster surround lights up when i turn the lights on, but no display on any of the lcd's. the turn signal lights still flash fine. also, the odometer is not rolling anymore since this happened.

i have fixed the radio wiring and that all works now, and the car runs and drives fine like nothing ever happened.

i did the digital cluster test mode and of course nothing was displaying.

i checked all the fuses, the "room lamp" fuse blew so i replaced that, all others in that fuse block are fine, including the fusible links in the engine bay. so naturally i thought the power supply fried, bought a good working one and another cluster just in case, and neither fixed the problem.

i tried looking at the wiring diagrams and troubleshooting in the service manual and they aren't really doing much help. anyone have any ideas what this could be? or what to look at next? i'm running out of ideas.

my next idea was going to be looking at the time control unit but from what i've read about its functions, it seems to be working fine. i don't know.

please help me get this thing working again! thank you!

 

this is just about all i'm getting now with ignition on and lights on

 

I knew there was a reason I always disconnect the battery when I work on my car.

 

I just replaced a digital dash and am trying to think about what connection could have shorted..but I am stumped. All the wires are in the harness and not exposed to be shorted.
The radio wires swing down to the right whereas the digi cluster and its wires are on the left side of the dash.

The three cables coming from the dash all hook into the wiring on the farthest left side of the car..when you remove the panel above driver knees. Check those connections, make sure they are tight. I just cannot figure out the inter-connection between those and the radio wires. Sorry.

 

still would have shorted out once i reconnected the battery.. :/
i've done plenty of radio installs and the one time i didn't double check my work this happens. made a stupid mistake i guess.

thanks for the reply. yeah i am running out of ideas on what it could be. maybe i blew a diode or multiple diodes/resistor or something because there seems to be a lot of them along the wiring harnesses. not sure if that would cause this problem but i guess it's possible. i just wish there was another z31 person around here i could test/swap things out with.

 

There are digi dashes on ebay you can get. There was one guy on Z31 with extras he wanted tested try this guy his screen name is: bkubisht send him a private msg.

I have a dash that is probably no good but can be fixed if you know what you are doing.
It is from an 84 AE..

Pulling the dash is a bit of a bitch but having just done it..I can point out the things to look out for.

 

already bought another working cluster and power supply unit and nothing has changed unfortunately. unless somehow those happen to be bad also.

 

well looks like i finally got it working again! i went back over the fuse box and replaced another fuse, still didn't work, then threw on the new power supply i got and now it's working! thanks Donn144 for the replies

 

Excellent! Did you pull the dash? Wowa..oh well, you learned a lot..and probably feel good it is working again.

So, in the end, what do you think it was? The fuse? the fuse and the PS?
I know when you are working you do not keep track of all variables as you are focused on putting everything back the way it came out and getting it to work and holding your breath each time you plug in a component.

What is your takeaway lesson you'd like to share?

 

Glad to see you got it working, well done !

 

i didn't have to pull the dash thankfully. it was definitely both the fuse and power supply. after studying the service manual wiring diagrams for a bit i realized a few of those circuits in the fuse block are integrated for the digital cluster so they all have to be working properly (with fuses present).

as far as lesson learned, always double check your wiring work! and don't assume your 240sx radio harness adapter has the same pinout as the z31 even though the connector is the same.. lol. oh well, live and learn i guess.

 

thanks again man!

 

 

Looking good!