Has anyone superglued the copper contacts down on the circuit board ?

[Goldie Driver]

As the title said, I am curious.

I changed the circuit board with a LMC one a few years back, and probably wasted my time as I wonder if the plastic gauge holder is just worn where the bulb holders fit.

I saved the old one, and here we are again as now the upper LH speedo light will not come on, and the high beam indicator won't come on.

I even bought new bulb holders - my 80 takes the bigger 5/8" ones.

I tried gluing the copper contacts back down on the clear backing.

Anyone tried this ?

Trying to decide of I should go new aftermarket ( again) or try this ...

Thanks !

Britt

 

[Snoots]

You're better off using Silicon RTV. It will stay flexible whereas glue will not. Clean the contacts with a pencil eraser.

 

[Finkaire]

I used a paper clip to ground it and eventually bought a new board from LMC, along with all new bulbs. Everything works perfectly now

 

[RoryH19]

I have similar issues, about to buy a new circuit board for my 78 k10.
I have a spare 82 cluster but LMC says they are different boards.

 

[mtnmankev]

I may have to buy a new circuit board for my 83 because the oil pressure gauge won't indicate.
Everything else works and I know the sending unit is good.

 

[Goldie Driver]

You're better off using Silicon RTV. It will stay flexible whereas glue will not. Clean the contacts with a pencil eraser.

Damn - did not think of that !

Pulling the cluster is a PITA because of the aftermarket DIN style stereo, but I am almost anxious as I want to see what the aftermarket board is doing.

I am picturing based on what my finger feels that the plastic tore and broke the copper contact.

 

[Ellie Niner]

So, are the actual traces peeling up off of the printed circuit, or are you mainly having problems maintaining a connection at the bulb/socket/circuit board interface?

While I haven't dealt with traces pulling up on these flexible circuit boards, I have repaired a broken trace to my right turn signal indicator on my '86 with rear window defroster grid repair supplies... I can't remember if the stuff is flexible when it sets up or not, but it has held up for the last 20 years.

The instrument clusters on these trucks are famous for flaky connections, and they tend to get worse over time around the bulbs that are frequently illuminated, as the heat slowly warps, shrinks, cracks, and turns the cheezy plastic brown and brittle.

All of my Squares have suffered from this to varying degrees, and I've always had pretty good luck with cleaning the oxidation off of the contacts with a pencil eraser like Roger mentioned, cleaning and bending the brass tabs on the PC sockets so that they make a tighter connection, then bending the wire terminals on the bulbs themselves and moving them around in the socket until they're for sure in a position where they'll stay lighted. Most newer PC168 (or any PCxxx bulbs) have the bulb spot welded to the socket, eliminating one source of bad connections. I usually don't have any problems getting the old school (bulb replaceable ones) to stay lighted after fiddling with them for a bit.

As far as gluing the sockets to the board, my '86 had problems sh¡tting the high beam indicator and a couple other bulbs out on the floor on bumpy roads, and I finally put a small dab of Shoe Goo on all of the sockets after installation to keep them from backing out. Oddly, this was happening before there was any heat damage to the IC housing. This has held up for 20 years as well. None of my vehicles have had enough heat damage to need a replacement housing yet, but I've seen some for sale of eBay that were too cooked to be worth messing with.

 

[Goldie Driver]

So, are the actual traces peeling up off of the printed circuit, or are you mainly having problems maintaining a connection at the bulb/socket/circuit board interface?

While I haven't dealt with traces pulling up on these flexible circuit boards, I have repaired a broken trace to my right turn signal indicator on my '86 with rear window defroster grid repair supplies... I can't remember if the stuff is flexible when it sets up or not, but it has held up for the last 20 years.

The instrument clusters on these trucks are famous for flaky connections, and they tend to get worse over time around the bulbs that are frequently illuminated, as the heat slowly warps, shrinks, cracks, and turns the cheezy plastic brown and brittle.

All of my Squares have suffered from this to varying degrees, and I've always had pretty good luck with cleaning the oxidation off of the contacts with a pencil eraser like Roger mentioned, cleaning and bending the brass tabs on the PC sockets so that they make a tighter connection, then bending the wire terminals on the bulbs themselves and moving them around in the socket until they're for sure in a position where they'll stay lighted. Most newer PC168 (or any PCxxx bulbs) have the bulb spot welded to the socket, eliminating one source of bad connections. I usually don't have any problems getting the old school (bulb replaceable ones) to stay lighted after fiddling with them for a bit.

As far as gluing the sockets to the board, my '86 had problems sh¡tting the high beam indicator and a couple other bulbs out on the floor on bumpy roads, and I finally put a small dab of Shoe Goo on all of the sockets after installation to keep them from backing out. Oddly, this was happening before there was any heat damage to the IC housing. This has held up for 20 years as well. None of my vehicles have had enough heat damage to need a replacement housing yet, but I've seen some for sale of eBay that were too cooked to be worth messing with.

I cannot yet tell you what the 4 year old LMC board looks like as I have not pulled the cluster.

On the OE one , what I am referring to is the curved copper contacts that the wipers on the bulb holders touch to firm the circuit.

Several of them had come up at the ends and that is what I glued down.

Shoe Goo is not a bad idea, but I have clear silicone handy.

The reason I think the LMC board may be messed up is that the bulb holder for the left side speedo light fit somewhat loose. I have been reaching up and tweaking it, sometimes pulling it out and reinstalling it, for the same amount of time from underneath.

Or, if I was lucky, a thump on the dash or hitting a bump would bring it back.

When it is in the 40s for temps it was real normal for it to not light up until the interior of the truck warmed up.

The gas gauge sometimes would drop to empty and then come roaring back to full after normal human temps were reached.

Anyhoo, so maybe a heating and contracting process coupled with blindly putting in the bulb holder could have damaged the board.

I remember thinking the OE looked more robust than the LMC.

And, when I took the cluster out initially some of the bulb holders had silver tape over them so the PO or someone battled this issue as well.

 

[Ontheboulder]

I cannot yet tell you what the 4 year old LMC board looks like as I have not pulled the cluster.

On the OE one , what I am referring to is the curved copper contacts that the wipers on the bulb holders touch to firm the circuit.

Several of them had come up at the ends and that is what I glued down.

Shoe Goo is not a bad idea, but I have clear silicone handy.

The reason I think the LMC board may be messed up is that the bulb holder for the left side speedo light fit somewhat loose. I have been reaching up and tweaking it, sometimes pulling it out and reinstalling it, for the same amount of time from underneath.

Or, if I was lucky, a thump on the dash or hitting a bump would bring it back.

When it is in the 40s for temps it was real normal for it to not light up until the interior of the truck warmed up.

The gas gauge sometimes would drop to empty and then come roaring back to full after normal human temps were reached.

Anyhoo, so maybe a heating and contracting process coupled with blindly putting in the bulb holder could have damaged the board.

I remember thinking the OE looked more robust than the LMC.

And, when I took the cluster out initially some of the bulb holders had silver tape over them so the PO or someone battled this issue as well.

I would use some clear silicone my self, I know those boards seem to be moving a bit and a new one would probably need to tied down for a bit until the plastic gets its curves and bumps worked out, especially around the turn indicator bulbs

 

[Goldie Driver]

Well.

Fought like mad to get the cluster out this time.

Dumbazz number one:
Remove the shift indicator container from the cluster. I bent it before I pulled my head out ...

Dumbazz number 2:

Not much slack in the speedo cable. Hope its a tough as I hope it is- we will find out.

And, the big reveal:

I was right.

Crapo pics because the cluster is still in the truck, but that destroyed trace powers the high beam indicator as well.

 

[SquareRoot]

I remember dealing with that headache. Then I installed the Dakota Digital Vintage Series cluster. Peace and happiness ever since.

 

[Goldie Driver]

Baby steps - cluster out, disassembled, circuit board replaced, and back together.

Interesting thing- the voltmeter has 3 studs but only 2 are used.

Look at the pic of the housing - you only see 2 clips on the left hand side.

Oh, yeah- I wondered if you could pull the clips out from the back side without taking the cluster apart.

I did not go crazy in the attempt, but my answer is no.

And, after putting new bulb holders in where the old fit loose, I wound up changing a few out with the old to get them to work.

Weird.

And, a little silicone action on a few of them.

 

[Goldie Driver]

Ultimately, the answer to will it work is we will see.

One thing one the silicone, or shoe goo, trick that I should have done differently was to put the silicone in the holes where the bulb holders go or on the holders themselves. I put the cluster in last night and 2 bulbs were acting up.

Decided there was no way I went through all this for that outcome and back out it came - well, out of the hole in the dash but resting on the column - for some more silicone.

Seems like the same damn LH speedo bulb as before plus the high beam indicator were the biznitches.

Back in tonight, bent the shift indicator housing back to good enough, checked the bulbs after installing- still working- and put the radio back in the cluster- yeah, that's right - crap as s aftermarket stereo bs - and all that is left is bezel screws and the lower column cover.

 

[Ontheboulder]

Just replaced my printed circuit today,everything laid down pretty nice, sanded all the electrical connections for the gauges and lights and used new bulb holders. I used just a dab of super glue on the corners and near the turn indicators to keep them in place

 

[Goldie Driver]

Just replaced my printed circuit today,everything laid down pretty nice, sanded all the electrical connections for the gauges and lights and used new bulb holders. I used just a dab of super glue on the corners and near the turn indicators to keep them in place

Glue on the bulb holders, or the circuit board ?

My external silicone job is already acting up on the LH speedo bulb which has been the problem child all along. I may tear back into it and try some silicone on the bulb holder to the cluster housing, or even day dreamed about attempting to solder ( do they make a liquid or cold solder ? ) some feed wires from the circuit to the offending bulb and that way who cares if it does not make full contact on the circuit board.

Anyway you slice it, I gotta go back in, or suffer w/ it as constantly tweaking from the bottom is what farked up my old circuit board in the 1st place.