Dash Gages and Cruise not working

[nevittja]

I just bought a Blue Bird Short bus with an International DT466. The speedometer and tach worked intermitten, and now all the dash gages do not work. I have not been able to get the cruise control to work either. The person I bought it from said he had some trouble with the speedometer but the cruise always worked. Anyone have any suggestions? This is my first bus and am new to the game. Thanks.

 

[Brad_SwiftFur]

What year is it? I have an '87 IH and the gauges have a plastic "circuit sheet" that leaves much to be desired, especially after they age a bit. Older GM vehicles use a similar setup. You may be able to pull the instrument cluster and fiddle with the non-working connections and see if they'll work (much like I did!); I was able to pull mine in about 10 minutes.

Eventually I may redo my gauges with aftermarket, but that's mostly because I want to regear the rear axle, and changing the factory speedometer may prove more expense and effort than 6-7 all new aftermarket gauges & indicator lights. (It would also be converted from a mechanical speedo to an electronic one).

 

[nevittja]

It is a 2000. Does it take much experience to do? Or is this tracing wires and connections? Thanks for our reply.

 

[Brad_SwiftFur]

Mine was all of 7 screws, 2 plugs, and 1 speedometer cable (Which yours probably won't have). A little gentle prying, and out it came.

 

[cadillackid]

the ones wiut hthe later dash (square gauges in the cluster??) are notorious for the plastic circuit boiard to go bad... ytou can pull the cluster out... on my bus the cluster was held in by 2 screws at the bottom and then you pull out the bottom gently and then slightly down and the 2 top spring clips will release and the cluster is out just connected by the wires and the air hoses (if you have air brakes)... the air lines ocme off pretty easy but good ideas to either pumpo the brakes till the air is flat or open the drain valves under the bus first.. then you can disconnect the cluster.. clean those contacts on the Mylar "circuit panel" with contact cleaner, and also the contacts on the connector itself... put it all back together and chances are it will work...

you can aslso check your CHASSIS fuses to make sure you dont just have a power issue to the cluster...

my insturction is fgor the single all inclusive cluster.. I think some of the flat nose busses have individual gauges and not a cluster??

-Christopher

 

[jazty]

Christopher beat me to it! I was going to say the same thing. 2 screws on the bottom edge and clips at the top.

1. Check all connections at the back. Even pop them off and clean them with some electrical contact cleaner.

2. Check the DIP switches. My tach was weird because the DIP switches were improperly set. I also lost my speedometer at one point because I had insecurely mounted the dash cluster and a DIP switch was accidentally thrown.

Here's my related post: http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f27/armageddon-the-smell-of-airborne-rust-8870-19.html#post150864

And Cadillackid's post that helped me fix the problem: http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/the-dev-random-13843-8.html#post150821

3. Could be a loose wire somewhere. If you know how to use a multimeter you can probe around. Sometime back I posted a diagnostic manual for my International with the T444e. Here's the link: Dropbox. You have a different engine, but the colour codes for the wires coming out of the dash are likely the same.

4. It could be that the circuit board is self destructing. There are some repair services available on eBay that can check it over and fix it for around $130. Here's one I found with a quick search (note that I've haven't used any of these services): International Truck Speedometer Cluster Repair Service TO Your Unit | eBay

 

[nevittja]

Thanks cadillackid and Jazty, I just got back to the post. I have the cluster with the 2 screws holding it in. I will take it out and try cleaning the contacts. Did you have to take the housing off the steering column to get the panel off? I'll take a look at the related posts also. Let you know how it goes.

 

[cadillackid]

I only pulled mine out enough to reset the switches on top and change a couple lamp holders.. it looks like if I wanted to remove the whole thing I would either need to drop the column a couple inches or move / rotate my turn signal lever housing.. and of course disconnect the air pressure gauge lines..

is your completely InOp as in does not even get power?

-Christopher

 

[nevittja]

Thanks for all the input. I soldered the connections and the gages work! Only several dozen more things to fix!

 

[jazty]

Great news!

When you say that you "soldered the connections" what connections are you referring to? Are you soldering the individual wires inside the rectangular connectors to the circuit board?

 

[nevittja]

I soldered the individual joints on the back side of the circuit board on the main (green) connector. After I took the cluster out, I turned it over and took off all the screws that hold the circuit board on. Then carefully pryed the board off the pins that hold the gages on. Turned it over and just touched up the solder joints on the main connector. It was very easy. I had never soldered electronics connections before. Just a little dab of solder was enough. I figured this would take care of my cruise control issue also. But my cruise still does not work. I forgot to check the fuses. That's my next step.