Fuse Panel Question

[Mike429cj]

Did the LED conversion on my insturment cluster. They were not working before and was hoping this would fix them. I replaced the circuit board, switched to electronic voltage regulator as well. The headlight switch was already replaced. Put back together and the insturment lights still don't work and I noticed my gas gage also now does not work. It did before.

Can't see well enough to tell if fuses are blown. Can I take the screw out of the fuse box and drop it down enough to see the fuses? One is so small wondering how to get it out?

Should have left it alone I guess!

 

[midlife]

Yes, you can, but it won't move a whole lot for ya. That little 4 amp fuse (for the dash courtesy lights) is a bugger to take out. Please disconnect the battery before attempting to remove a fuse, trust me.

Are any of your other dash lamp lights working (heater, ignition, etc.)? If they are, then it isn't the fuse.

Finally, have you twisted the headlight knob correctly?

 

[JimNiki]

I would also just put back an analogue globe in one socket just to eliminate the led variable...

Nothing worse than trying to solve 2 problems at once...

 

[71_resurrection]

I am having the same problem with my dome lamp at the moment. Put in the led and the old bulb was working fine, no led, switched it around, still no lume. Traced the line to check for any disruption in the line and of course checked the fuse, it was good, but replaced it anyway. My next step in gonna be test it with a battery, if it's no good then I will call superbrightled and ask if they can send me a replacement. As for you have you checked the printed circuit where the harness plugs into the instrument cluster, sometimes the connections fray pretty badly when removing and replacing it.

 

[kiko619]

this is just a heads up if you dont already know this. but say you get it working.... those LED's are polarized and so is the socket for the dash cluster. you have to test each individual bulb out if it doesnt turn on... flip the socket and try the LED polarity again... its a pain in the *** but that wil help out. pay attention to the guages as you do one by one itll get brighter and brighter and brother even if it lights up on the first try there's huge chance they didn't all light up >.<

the best way to remove those fuses, well i used a reeeeaally small flat head, like the ones used for glasses, to lift them up just be careful they are glass, 1 broke on me quite a mess lol little portable vacuum cleaned it all up as well as loose glass the remained in the fuse box.

best of luck!

 

[TommyK]

Might also want to clean all the fuse holder contacts while you are down there. They become corroded and cause issues like you are having.

 

[Totalled]

Sometimes, you have to finesse the contacts in the bulb holders. I had a few where pushing the led in till it bottomed, made it lose contact.

 

[jb73Mach]

Also be careful if you replaced the lamp holders when you replaced the circuit board. I bought a batch from NPD that do not work. The contacts are off a couple of degrees and do not work for the Mustang printed circuit although they are advertised as such.

 

[whitesoc]

+1 on checking the contacts. I had to go through 95 % of my lights to make sure they made proper contact when I switched to leds.

 

[kiko619]

+2. It's a pain.... just have patience in the end it's worth it.

 

[Mike429cj]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I did buy new bulb holders from NPD! I was careful to make sure I installed the bulb correctly but they might not all be making connection. Out of that many bulbs you would think one at least would.

What about my non functioning gas gage? Could my new electronic voltage regulator be bad? Should I put the old one back in? The gages don't work off the fuses do they?

 

[midlife]

Gauges do not work off of fuses.

Do you have another gauge (oil, water temperature)? Simply swap lines (pins on the dash cluster connector) and see if the problem travels to the new gauge or stays put.

 

[Mike429cj]

Gauges do not work off of fuses.

Do you have another gauge (oil, water temperature)? Simply swap lines (pins on the dash cluster connector) and see if the problem travels to the new gauge or stays put.

OK,

I put all the old bulb holders back in in Place of the NPD new holders and carefully made sure the positive was where it was supposed to be. The insturment cluster LED's now light up but the fuel gage and the center gages still do not work. They all worked before. Also the center gages do not light up but I have not changed the bulbs in them yet. They could be burned out. Not sure how to get to them yet but my main concern is the gages that now don't work.

Could the new electronic voltage regulater be bad? That is the only thing that I know of according to what I read on this site that could cause this.

Also, the little 4amp fuse was bad. Changing it lit only the tach lights until I went ahead and changed out all the bulb connectors.

What is my next step?

 

[JimNiki]

Put a cheap multimeter on the 6v side of the new CVR ...that'll tell you real quick if it's working.

 

[Mike429cj]

I put the old insturment panel voltage regulator back on the cluster. The gages are now working again it seems. However the fuel gage now reads way past full which it never has before.

It does have a full tank just never has read so far past the full mark. Is it possible that my NEW electronic CVR was bad? If there was a way to install it wrong I probably found it. There was no way to mess up the connections so it was not that. Only the way it was mounted. Will NPD take it back? Should I just leave the old one in place or try getting a new electronic CVR from another source?

 

[JimNiki]

If the new CVR is adjustable, have a play with it, if not, I wouldn't stress, I'd let it run out of fuel to see where the needle is then.

Then you can carefully bend the needle, or swap for an adjustable CVR. Either way you will know at what point it will run out so no big deal really.

Our gauges were never meant to be highly accurate anyway....

PS, carry some fuel around on your first runout....

Just my 2 cents(less tax).