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Old 01-25-2020, 10:52 AM   #1
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Instrument panel dead

Took the bus on it maiden voyage (for me) this morning. Its a 1999 International T444E 3400 short bus.



Installed new batteries, and found that the instrument cluster gauges do not work. The idiot lights to the left and right of the cluster work just fine.


Not looking to replace the cluster with a digital gauge set, just want to repair the one I have.


Can anyone provide a wiring diagram, fuse/breaker manual. I will have time later today to look deeper, but I did not see any identification of what each fuse or breaker does.


As I am guessing there would be individual fuses for each gauge, but is there a common fuse for the set? If not, then maybe it is a ground issue, if there is a separate ground for the warning lights and the gauges.



Thanks for helping!

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Old 01-25-2020, 11:18 AM   #2
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Welcome Rick,

Instrument cluster failure is pretty common. The common fix is taking the panel out and resoldering the connections on the back of the circuit board.
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Old 01-25-2020, 12:21 PM   #3
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Thanks PNW_Steve, I will pull the cluster this weekend and see what I find.
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Old 01-25-2020, 04:33 PM   #4
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There are videos on YouTube about repairing these too.
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Old 01-25-2020, 04:57 PM   #5
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Mine had the same problem, and was easily fixed in about 10 minutes, once I got it all down to the circuit board.
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Old 01-26-2020, 10:11 AM   #6
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True success will be known later today, but the cold solder joints were the likely cause due to how bad they were. Someone had worked on the cluster before, using cable ties to "tighten" the connector.

I have included some photos to aid in the next person who runs into what sounds like a common problem. The board design does not provide large enough solder pads to handle the stress. Given the nature of a big vehicle on rough roads, I am not sure if there is a way to control the stress. Not quite like a Harley, but still a lot of vibrations.

For those who are new to soldering, find a friend who has the proper equipment. For the most part, it is a fairly easy job. Even so, with some of the pads being so small and the conformal coating success is not a given. Conformal coating remover on a Q-tip is needed on the areas where it was used by the factory. It can be done without it, but you had better have some soldering skills. Likelihood of melting the pins in of the board connector is possible, especially without the right equipment in dealing with the coating.

Whichever route you take, hit all solder pads on the major connectors. If one connector pin has a bad solder pad, the others are stressed as well. Afterwards, take a picture and look at it on a computer monitor to make sure the solder flowed well around all sides of the pins.

Cold solder joints:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5k7fy6f6j3...%20up.jpg?dl=0

Conformal Coating:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iig5v8ekt0...g%202.jpg?dl=0
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Old 02-13-2020, 06:06 PM   #7
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Btw, how are some folks able to insert pictures directly to their posts. Mine asked for a link?


Also, the turns signals indicators which worked before, no longer work after the repairs. I will go back and check my work, but is there a common cause that neither indicator will work?



There is a 4 indicators together that have no markings on the them. They all have one white and one gray to each bulb. Is there a good way to figure out what they are for so I can stick them back in the main cluster. The previous owner pulled them out when looking at the gauges and did not mark them.


Thanks
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Old 02-13-2020, 06:22 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rick52768 View Post
Btw, how are some folks able to insert pictures directly to their posts. Mine asked for a link?

Thanks

None of my images (except my profile avatar) is hosted on this forum, most are on my Google account. So I go to my Google page, view the image and get the link to it, then copy that link here. Took me a few tries to figure out how to make it work, partly due to having to set sharing permissions on the Google end.
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Old 02-13-2020, 06:53 PM   #9
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When you're writing a post, down below the box you enter text in, you'll see a button labeled "manage attachments". This will open a popup where you can select images from wherever, then click the "upload" button and close the window. Back in your editor, click the paper clip button and you'll see a list of the images you just uploaded, and you can select them into your post.

Convert your JPEGs to PNG format first, unless you like having a bunch of your images sideways.
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