I have a 88 cougar 5.0 xr7 that the instrument gauges (buttstuffog) all of a sudden stopped working. In searches, I've found that it could possibly be the voltage regulator. I took the instrument panel loose to inspect and found a black wire coming off of the top third terminal (left to right) of the connector loose from whatever it was connected to. Problem is, I'm not sure what it was suppose to be connected to. Please help!
http://www.coolcats.net/tech/general/8588buttstuffog_v8.html
This black wire appears to have been possibly added at some point in time. I bought the car when it only had 42k miles on it, but it did go to the shop years ago for the gauges not working then, the dealership corrected the problem and told me that it was a bad
ignition switch. The black wire in question is just 4 to 6" long and was bent in the direction of the volt regulator. I can not tell where it was connected.
Could it be possible that this wire was added to provide a better ground for the regulator?
If you're talking about the two black wires that are joined together, and one goes in the harness, the other is shorter and hangs outside the harness...then the shorter wire is not hooked to anything. You're okay.
do you own a meter?
Yes, I do have a meter. The cluster that's in my car looks identical to the one in the pic that Eric posted, but the wiring harness colors don't match the wires that are described. The short black wire that I mentioned earlier is in slot 7 along with a grayish colored wire that is in the harness. Is there a way to check the IVR and to check if it's actually getting power?
Eiric
Is it safe to assume that the EVTM illustraton of the buttstuffog cluster (2.3L) is a good representation of the buttstuffoge v8's?
Cant find any info for the v8 clusters in detail within the shop manual and the EVTM doesnt cover the buttstuffog v8 cluster either,,only on the 2.3.
Talked cartercat through his prob, no power to the IVR so he's tracing upstream in the circuit later on this week.