1985 Seville turn signal indicator

[Mike Shawgo]

Hi everyone,

This is a small issue, but those are the ones that drive you crazy--the left turn signal indicator in my 85 Seville has stopped working (exterior turn signals work fine, just the flashing arrow indicator).  It's an analog instrument cluster. I tried to access the back to replace the bulb, without disconnecting the speedo cable. I was just barely able to get my hand in, but I was able to get out the little twist socket and put in a new bulb, but guess what--it still didn't work. I swapped the left and right bulbs and sockets, and the problem stayed on the left side.  I really don't want to replace the whole instrument cluster just for a turn signal indicator.  My mechanic doesn't want to start going down that rabbit's hole.  Does anyone know of a specialty repair shop that might work on an instrument cluster in the Chicago area? I'm thinking it might be one of those printed circuit ribbon cables.

Mike

[bcroe]

I have seen plenty of cases where the heat of the bulb has distorted the
circuit board that the socket twists into.  My fix has been to solder a small
flexible wire between the board trace, and the twist socket contact, on
each side.  Wire just long enough to remove the socket.  DO NOT turn
it around 180, or the wires will short it out. 

HOWEVER, a turn signal bulb would not be expected to be on long enough,
to do such damage.  My suspicion is a wiring fault somewhere, finding it
will require good factory drawings, and maybe removing the cluster. 
good luck, Bruce Roe

[79 Eldorado]

Mike,
If the bulb was that difficult to reach the copper laminated circuit may have been damaged when you threaded the bulb in. Was the bulb you took out blown? It could be the original was blown and the act of changing it caused the plastic/copper laminate to fold etc. If a corner folded the twist in contacts may not be touching.

Mine was worse to put back in then to take out. There was a really short small screw retaining something from the back, maybe something helping the speedometer cable to stay in place, which I recall needed to be installed after the cluster was back in. It doesn't make sense now but it did at the time. I had a can of extra Toronado dash fasteners and I found a screw which was about 1/8" longer and it worked perfectly.

The way these are designed is there's a formed spring steel clip which, once depressed, allows the speedo end to go through freely. When you release the spring clip the hole is at an angle and doesn't allow the cable to come out easily.

One other tip is take photos of each layer you remove with fastener positions. I even pushed each fastener through a piece of cardboard with the location written next to it. Despite that there was still a screw which I never figured out where it should go back in. I know it sounds strange. I've taken a fair amount of clusters out and so I was shocked but I had one extra and it wasn't the one I replaced mentioned above.

Scott

[bcroe]

I would add, if you must work on the speedo cable, establish some
slack in the engine compartment.  Move the cable, or even disconnect
the other end.  This might allow pulling the head a couple more inches
out for working on the cable disconnect/connect.  good luck, Bruce Roe