help me ASAP!!! (gauges)

[derrick1623]

okay, i had been fooling around with my gauge lighting, upon seeing that i wouldn't get the desired results, i put everything back together... tonight i realized that one of the light "socks" may be indie-out(dim lighting on rpm gauge... so my dumbass pulls the gauge cluster apart...and tryed to switch the "sock" over..

i put the bulb back into the socket, and SMOKE came out from the contacts,

the bulb does not look burnt in the least, but now NONE of my gauge lights come on except the dummy lights.

any suggestions= reply here, pm me, or email to derrick1623@mazdamp3.com!

 

[derrick1623]

come on people, i DO NOT want to go to a dealer for this crap, is there anything i can check or do, i know i have the option the swap the circuit boards out, but i kinda like my odometer being right.

 

[20EVOLUTION01]

Did you check any fuses. Check to see if any of the circuit board is burnt. If it is maybe you can fix it with a jumper wire. Check it very good to see if somewhere it broke contact if it wasn't a fuse.

 

[derrick1623]

i checked the fuse that says "room", and another 10amp, both were fine. i am almost positive it's the board, it smelled like pure s***, (electrical wires stink when burnt)

 

[katsmp3]

derrick, remember when i tried the same stuff. A new board cost $400.

I figured out that there is a theatre lighting gel that you can melt over the bulbs... that is after you peel the red off.

 

[pr5owner]

edited by derrick1623...

this is a last resort BTW

 

[derrick1623]

okay everyone...help me figure this out...

i put another (new) circuit board in my cluster, and as soon as i put it in the car, and turned the lights on, the SAME circuit burnt up AGAIN!!!

please, if ANYONE knows why it's doing this, help!

 

[Pheonix]

i hope it's not the wiring harness, but i strongly believe it's the gauges themselves
we cannot try this but putting in a working cluster with no gauges just to see

 

[derrick1623]

i hope it's not the wiring harness, but i strongly believe it's the gauges themselves
we cannot try this but putting in a working cluster with no gauges just to see

the wording here confuses me... please explain what you need me to do here.

 

[Maxx Mazda]

Well, what do you mean by you were "fooling around with cluster lighting?" Maybe you ****** something up. It dont' take alot of voltage to blow those circuitboards.

 

[derrick1623]

meaning, i was switching a bulb...problem: had the key in the ignition.

 

[Maxx Mazda]

meaning, i was switching a bulb...problem: had the key in the ignition.

There ya go. Probably fried some resistors or even the board...

 

[1sty]

THe best thing I can think of is to get a multimeter and a wiring diagram amke damn sure every wire is doing exactly what is should before you plug anything in. The major one I am think of is that there is potentialy power in a ground wire or vice versa.

 

[RyanJayG]

do the sniffer test.... if it smells like burt silicone then its done.