Space Capsule 1995: Repairs, Roadtrips, Retrofits, & Wrenching

[rckolson]

[Abscate]

Absolutely Saintly.

I always find those on crappy trailer light installs and they shake, break, or corrode to decay.
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[Saturn]

[Abscate]

I hate those vampire connectors with a passion , Saturn. Think about replacing with a tapped connector or dual wire at the terminus.

Nice red block , Swede!
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[Saturn]

[BuckyRoad]

[67rustavenger]

[TheOneTrueQuux]

[Saturn]

[dsh1705]

WOW! This is awesome. What timing, as I am about to go into my cluster again.

I plan to resolder (desolder, then solder) ONLY the 28 pin connector, and see if that fixes things. All the solder joints on my board look fine under a 10X loupe, but I will redo the connector anyway.

Where did you find the diagrams you based your notes on? (says the document junky).

My hat goes off to you, sir. Brilliant.
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David
1705.net
95 EVC
ACU,098

[Saturn]

[TheOneTrueQuux]

[bcolins]

[bcolins]

Congrats on the fix!!!!! Since this is such a common problem,...perhaps a separate post with a link to this solution. Has this solution in any way changed your thinking on the also wide spread blinking coolant light?

Since you are working on your cluster again,....I thought this might be a good time to post a pic of my circuit board from my 95 which is different from every other Early (5 cyl) EV circuit board pics or video I have seen,...so that others following your thread will be aware that there is at least one different board,......AND that in spite of the difference I have the flashing coolant light on cold start up and at one point had the blinking gear indicator digital display, that has now gone to no gear indication at all. Just the PRND21 with no indication. You will note that the regulator/stabilizer is not in the typical upper right corner, but rather is located somewhat centrally to one side of the board near the multi pin connector. and also appears to have only 3 solder joints (see my finger pointing to this). I additionally do have an intermittent check engine light,...and in the past have done the "Blink Code" test and that yielded 4 sets of 4 blinks each which is supposed to indicate "No fault/code stored"

Brian in Austin

[Saturn]

Back At It With The Instrument Cluster

Between some of the recent posts on the Eurovan forum about instrument clusters and a couple side phone calls with bcollins about issues/challenges he is running into, figure it is time to pull the instrument cluster, hopefully once and for all. Per my previous posts, the water temperature and fuel gauges are being quite contemptuous as most of the time they are barely registering or not at all. One technique I would try is to reach behind the dash to rock and/or press on the 28-pin connector. While this would sometimes bring the gauges back online, it seemed to be working less and less.

This past Monday afternoon with the help of a 24mm deep socket, remove the steering wheel. Five minutes later with the instrument cluster in my hand, perch at the kitchen table to disassemble it. Between chasing down the blinking coolant warning light and the erratic gauges I estimate I have removed and reinstalled the instrument cluster over 30 times by now. After pulling off the twin gauges and the tachometer from the circuit board, plug in the soldering iron in preparation of reheating solder joints. Undo the main board from the housing and look at it under bright light, unable to identify anything obviously amiss. Pull open the Bentley manual, sort through the wiring diagram (page X223-225) to figure out the gauge inputs arrive though connectors #21 (G1 -fuel sender ) and #23 (G3- water temp sender). Hit those two with the iron to reflow the solder as well as #3 (ground). Back In the van, plug the main connector in the cluster and turn the key to energize the ignition system. The warning lights illuminate and flash but the gas gauge doesn’t budge. After pressing on the 28-pin connector, the gas gauge shows a bit of life then flatlines again. Return to the kitchen table to ponder this problem some more.

After fully disassembling the circuit board, I start to realize I am probably barking up the wrong tree. Since pressing on the main connector would sometimes revive the gauges, that is where my focus went to. While looking at the back of the board, what dawned on me was pressing hard on the back of the cluster would also be potentially moving other parts around. The main connector was a little bit of a red herring as why would two solder joints go bad that are not next to one another? The two gauges are mounted in a single assembly onto the main board. There are two plastic posts which they press fit into along with the connectors to the gauges themselves, These are 4 metal pins which pass through the circuit board and mechanically mate into a connector on the backside. My theory now is those 4 pins are the source of the intermittent connection/signal.

Last September this gauge assembly was removed multiple times to swap it with the one from the junkyard which has the numerical temperature and gallon marking on the face. (URL) Exchanging these units out several times most likely loosened the mechanical connection, this would explain the gauges working intermittently or stop working after a bump or jolt. To rectify this, carefully bend the arms inward on all four of these contact points and do the same on the four used for the tachometer for good measure. Decide to swap out the voltage stabilizer with one from a spare Volco instrument cluster and reflow the six solder joints just in case. Button everything back together and return to the van. Turn the key and after a couple seconds, the gas gauge slowly begins to climb upward.

Fully install the dashboard and steering wheel and take the van for a spin. It takes a couple minutes before the temp gauge stirs and starts the slow climb upward as the engine heads towards operating temperatures. After 3-4 drives, the gauges are now reading normally and consistently. At last the instrument cluster is finally fully operational. The picture below was taken near the same spot on the Bay Bridge on the way to Oakland Tuesday morning as the one at the top of this post.

.

[Saturn]

[dsh1705]

[Saturn]

[eurovanrescue]

Wow, what a thread. I have a 1993 Weekender (auto trans) that I've owned for about 12 years. A lot of similar issues over the years.

I still have the blinking coolant light.

I'm in the midst of a no radiator fan issue that seems to be related to relay 114. I tried a "tested" oem replacement from ebay. No change.

With the key in ON position...
The test that I've been told to try is the jumping pins on the connector at the radiator fan switch. No power there. If I pull relay 114 and jump #2 & 3, I can get power to the radiator fan switch connector... and jumping middle to outside will engage the fans.

I'm not an electrical engineer, but I'm wondering if there is something that the relay 114 is not receiving to bridge the power. I checked all of my fuses and even #19 since I saw that you had some issues with that. No difference.

I'm just imagining that relay 114 may not be receiving the signal that the key is ON or something else...

Any thoughts?

[Abscate]

You can get pretty close as in good enough, on a bolt like that with punch marks. VW wants you to buy a counterhold tool of course.

Source; 55 years experience, punch marks 500+ , loose harmonic balancer nuts 0
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