89 635csi Diagnosing Cluster/Restoration, OBC, and Cruise Control

[mikehiras]

Finally got enough courage to tackle this, but some PO didn't know what they were doing and did a number on the cluster including bending the fuel and temp gauge needles. the plastic clear cover was not totally sealed and there are dust and fingerprints in it. So my upfront thought is to send out the cluster for restoration at http://www.bavrest.com/instrument-clusters.html or somewhere similar to deal with the obvious cosmetic issues. I finally pulled off the steering wheel and cluster yesterday.

So here are my issues:
1. All gauges in the cluster work great, fuel gauge is a little off and never goes to full, but it's close enough. Also the SI lights work fine decrease as expected and reset ok. Speedo, RPM, fuel economy, etc. all work fine. No burned out bulbs that I can tell.
2. My OBC does not register any of the mpg, range, etc, that rely on the cluster to work. But clock, date, etc work. Wires to the OBC from the cluster are attached and in the right configuration (blue and white, not blue and green)
3. Cruise control does not work. The steering wheel lever was REALLY LOOSE in the steering column, almost as if it wasn't totally screwed in.
4. On an unrelated note, the Airbag had the wire socket that attaches to the airbag snipped and covered with electrical tape.
5. On a further unrelated note, the headlight switch appears to have been worked on and noticed some diodes attached to the spliced wires.

I'm trying to determine if I need/want to remove the center console to get to the OBC. After reviewing the ETC Manual, I'm just not seeing anything else, with the exception of the OBC wires to test. Everything else is checking out and the fact that the cluster functions appear to be working fine does not give a clear path for what the next step needs to be.

I have read countless of posts on the issue, but there always appears to be a symptom in the cluster functions that kind of gives the next step. I have not opened the cluster yet (not sure if I will) to verify that speed and volts to the OBC are good. Before I do that though, I would like a sanity check and see if there is anything obvious that I am missing here. I doubt the airbag issue is related.

If anyone has any recommendations for cluster restoration, I would be happy to hear.

Thanks!

[danieljames]

Dude, trash it. Put a stack in it with a custom harness. You'll be chasing issues for ever. Dont you have stand alone fuel and ignition anyway?

http://www.stackltd.com/dash_displays.html

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[mikehiras]

Dude, trash it. Put a stack in it with a custom harness. You'll be chasing issues for ever. Dont you have stand alone fuel and ignition anyway?

http://www.stackltd.com/dash_displays.html

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

As tempting as that is (and trust me it is) If the car wasn't in otherwise relatively pristine condition with such low miles, I would be all over this.

[danieljames]

I hear you! Mine is in less than pristine condition......

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[mikehiras]

My Thunderbird Turbocoupe in my garage looks like yours....staging/storage place.

[Shipper]

do what I did, buy a new one!

Gauge Cluster Front Delivered July 2018.jpg