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Cadillac Repair/1990 cadillac brougham digital cluster

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Expert: - 8/19/2010


Question
Hello Rob,
My "other car" broke so I had to revive the old cadillac. It had been sitting long enough for the battery to drain completely so I got a new battery.  It started right up and every thing works fine including A/C and radio and all lights but the digital cluster is completely blank.  When it was parked it had always worked fine.   Could you list the likely possibilities and perhaps actions to fix?  
Thank you much,
George

Answer
Hello George,

Digital clusters have always been a problem.

The first thing though is look at the owners manual to find out where the i/p fuse is located as well as the gauge fuse. Check these fuses. If you are lucky, a blown fuse might be the only problem.

If that is not it, make sure some rodent get under the hood or under dash eating the harness going to i/p.

I have run into this qute often when a car sits for a long time.

Next, you will need to remove the cluster. Get some die electric grease from a hardware store as well as a can of brake cleaner. Spray both sides of connections. Lightly install the die electric greae to either the dash side or the cluster connection. Do not glob it in! Try reinstalling a couple times. It is common for the wiring printed circuit connection to become bad from sitting.

Just had one recemtly that the car had been sitting for a year. Removed cluster, reinstalled. Turned ignition on and everyting worked.

Put together and drove down the road. Parked and checked again. Not working. Pulled apart again, removed cluster, reinstalled and it worked. Drove down Please road. Fixed this time. I can't explain, other than moisture getting between connections and
leaving residue.

If that doesn't work, you need to ask a dealer as to where they send these clusters for repair.

Let's hope the problem is only a fuse.

Let me know what happened.

If my answer helped you, please rate it.

Thanks

Cadillac Repair

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Rob Painter

Expertise

Alarm system questions cannot be answered on this forum. These systems are not what I can answer. Without being physically at the vehicle and not knowing what kind of electrical service has been done on the vehicle, there is no possible way to give an accurate answer over the internet. My expertise is in Ignition/key based anti-theft systems. These issues include GM VATS (resistor chip in key blade) PASSLOCK (MRD)-ignition lock rotation based, no special ignition key and the PKIII Transponder (computer chip in key) systems. These systems are not alarm based and are integral with the starting of the engine. This is why I cannot diagnose alarm problems without physically looking at the vehicle: Alarm systems are a completely different annimal than ignition key/lock based anti-theft system. Many alarm questions come from vehicles 10 years old, and since older, many hands that had been involved over the years.I am an expert in all GM factory (ignition/key based)systems. Alarm system questions pose to many situations beyond my knowledge as to what has been done to the vehicle over the years. Some guy may have actually wired the stereo into the alarm system. Who knows? Over my past 30 years in vehicle wiring repair, I have seen unbelievable wiring disaters done by guys that consider themselves "mechanics." I have seen stereos and alarms intalled using surgical tape. I have seen modules burn up, un-fused circuits, wiring jambed between the doors and even lamp cord used for a starter kill. To answer alarm questions over the internet without examining the vehicle is like asking; What does it take to remove a dent?

Experience

Education/Credentials-ASE certified. 11 years with a GM dealer and 17 years with a repair facility dealing with only the repair of theft recovered vehicles.

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