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Dash lights
- Thread starter Chevykev
- Start date
Barrman
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Have you taken the gauge cluster apart, cleaned every surfaces and the bulbs themselves? Along with making sure the bulbs are the correct bulbs for that application? What is your voltage off the front battery with the engine running?
No not yet, trucks had a 12v conversion previous to me. Hopefully get to it this weekend
cucvrus
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That has nothing to do with the dash /luster lights. They are and always were 12 volt on a CUCV. Only thing 24 volt was the starter. Good Luck.
Skinny
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LED for the win...
I just replaced mine but didn't use leds...I am a big led guy and think the gauge back ground lights can be led....the ones I use can be dimmed and work great...I am not sure if they can be used for the alternator warning lights as the power may not pass through like a conventional light bulb to get the alternators to work...have you tried them in those before? I have a set of white leds I am planning on putting in there but don't want to fry a regulator in an alternator I just rebuilt! I may just keep those regular bulbs.
cucvrus
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They do not operate in the Gen 1 Gen 2 positions. You are correct they do not excite the circuit. Speaking of an excited circuit the 1987 CUCV M1028 that has been a slave to labor here for the past 10 years has always had a Gen 2 idiot light issue. Mainly it never lit. It would charge every time I drove it. But if I started it and just lugged it around in the field or in the woods it would not charge. Over the road i would just floor it and run 1st and 2nd gear out and it would spring the needle to the correct position. That was easy. I know what you're thinking. Fix it. I tried a few times. Thinking it was the dash light. I never wanted to take the time to tear into it because it always started. In the past month it was doing a lot of off roads in the woods and field activities. That caught up to the rear battery after 50 starts and stops. When it reached 4* last week it was not happy. Very slow crank and I knew the batteries were new. I looked into a bit closer. I removed the battery cables and charged each battery as 1 over night with a charger on each. BAM. Next morning at 7* it started right up. So, I looked and there it was. The white plastic voltage regulator plug had the old spade terminal from a previous mounted alternator in the connection. When you pushed the plug into the alternator it would push the wired connection away. I pulled that broken spade and there it was the long extinguished unexcitable Gen 2 all excited and lit up. I was just as excited. I started it up and there it was charging as designed. Like everything in life, it is the little things that eventually come back to bite you. I was using my new truck to haul wood that day, but I was kind and gentle. Later on, in the day I returned to SNAFU and BUBAR. The M1028 fired right up, and I heard it exclaim. BOHICA. I was off on a rock hauling mission. My rock crusher was hungry. Take Care, Be Safe and Stay Warm Safely.
cucvrus
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Yes, it needs some new bulbs and possibly the connections cleaned. Many ways to do that. I prefer with the cluster in place verses removing that fragile old plastic housing. 
Good Luck. Just start unloading everything thru the front and access the bulbs that way.
Good Luck. Just start unloading everything thru the front and access the bulbs that way.
Skinny
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Even when everything works correctly the OEM illumination sucks. Or maybe my eyesight is dimming as I age.
Regardless the CUCV has aftermarket gauges which are super bright. The Burb has LEDs in the factory cluster. Dimmer is on full blast, no need to dim. They are as bright as they should be to actually read them.
At no point have I said to myself, "self...these gauges are too bright!"
Regardless the CUCV has aftermarket gauges which are super bright. The Burb has LEDs in the factory cluster. Dimmer is on full blast, no need to dim. They are as bright as they should be to actually read them.
At no point have I said to myself, "self...these gauges are too bright!"