Do Not Drive Your Car Without The Gauge Cluster Installed...
01-24-2008 | 04:22 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 12,637
Likes: 3
From: Valley Village, CA
Do Not Drive Your Car Without The Gauge Cluster Installed... NOTE: Posted this in the electronics but also posting in here since this is the forum where members generally actually remove their clusters...
It doesn't allow the altenator to charge the battery if you do this!
Beats the hell out of me as to why (maybe the amp gauge is part of a closed loop) but I had my cluster out, got a rush call for work and headed out without reinstalling it.
Noticed my blinkers became slower through out the day and the radio cut on and off (just thought I had a short, never thought it was the battery dying).
Came home from work, went out to eat. Window motor was slow as hell, turn signals eventually stopped working, headlights were dim.
Got home, turned it off, turned it back on and not enough juice to crank it.
I reinstalled the cluster and tried to crank it. Dead. Then I jumped the car and it cranked.
I assumed as soon as I took the cables off the other battery the car would die (assuming the altenator was dead the battery would be too low to keep the car running) but it did not and I know the dead battery in my car could not have gotten charged off the jump start (was not even jumping it off of a running car, just a spare battery).
Go check my amp gauge and it is showing it is charged. I drive it around, all is well. Two days have now gone by and the car is perfectly fine.
The fact that I had driven around without the cluster installed I thought was just a coincidence and my altenator just chose then to crap out on me (it does have almost 160K on it). Turns out I was wrong.
It is interesting that the ONLY gauge that pegs itself in the negative if it is not plugged in is the amp gauge (the other needlles move and stay in place freely)...
Now I don't know if it is something GM did in case someone tried to steal the car (so the thief wouldn't get too far if this was tampered with) or if it has to do with the way the car is wired (like how if are third brake light goes out the ABS doesn't work) or if it is even just a flaw on 1998's but I promise you this, MY CAR WAS ONLY RUNNING OFF THE BATTERY WHEN THE CLUSTER WAS OUT, WHEN IT WAS BACK IN THE ALTENATOR CHARGED FINE...
The fact I was able to drive around all day is just a testament to using an OPTIMA battery
!
Anyone else have any input they can chime in?
It doesn't allow the altenator to charge the battery if you do this!
Beats the hell out of me as to why (maybe the amp gauge is part of a closed loop) but I had my cluster out, got a rush call for work and headed out without reinstalling it.
Noticed my blinkers became slower through out the day and the radio cut on and off (just thought I had a short, never thought it was the battery dying).
Came home from work, went out to eat. Window motor was slow as hell, turn signals eventually stopped working, headlights were dim.
Got home, turned it off, turned it back on and not enough juice to crank it.
I reinstalled the cluster and tried to crank it. Dead. Then I jumped the car and it cranked.
I assumed as soon as I took the cables off the other battery the car would die (assuming the altenator was dead the battery would be too low to keep the car running) but it did not and I know the dead battery in my car could not have gotten charged off the jump start (was not even jumping it off of a running car, just a spare battery).
Go check my amp gauge and it is showing it is charged. I drive it around, all is well. Two days have now gone by and the car is perfectly fine.
The fact that I had driven around without the cluster installed I thought was just a coincidence and my altenator just chose then to crap out on me (it does have almost 160K on it). Turns out I was wrong.
It is interesting that the ONLY gauge that pegs itself in the negative if it is not plugged in is the amp gauge (the other needlles move and stay in place freely)...
Now I don't know if it is something GM did in case someone tried to steal the car (so the thief wouldn't get too far if this was tampered with) or if it has to do with the way the car is wired (like how if are third brake light goes out the ABS doesn't work) or if it is even just a flaw on 1998's but I promise you this, MY CAR WAS ONLY RUNNING OFF THE BATTERY WHEN THE CLUSTER WAS OUT, WHEN IT WAS BACK IN THE ALTENATOR CHARGED FINE...
The fact I was able to drive around all day is just a testament to using an OPTIMA battery
!Anyone else have any input they can chime in?
01-24-2008 | 05:18 PM
#4
I assumed as soon as I took the cables off the other battery the car would die (assuming the altenator was dead the battery would be too low to keep the car running) but it did not and I know the dead battery in my car could not have gotten charged off the jump start (was not even jumping it off of a running car, just a spare battery).
not good to do on computer contorlled cars.
not good to do on computer contorlled cars.
01-24-2008 | 05:38 PM
#7
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01-24-2008 | 05:42 PM
#8
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 12,637
Likes: 3
From: Valley Village, CA
Yeah but the point is the average person who simply thinks they can pull the cluster out would be screwed...
01-26-2008 | 12:06 AM
#19
^^ bingo
the battery light, not the amp gauge, but the battery light is part of the preexcitation circuit, when the light is lit the armature is not creating a magnetic field around the field coils. its like this on all cars with an alternator. its not a problem, its not something that was fixed on 99+ cars.
the battery light, not the amp gauge, but the battery light is part of the preexcitation circuit, when the light is lit the armature is not creating a magnetic field around the field coils. its like this on all cars with an alternator. its not a problem, its not something that was fixed on 99+ cars.
