I really would hate to tear this dash apart again. I have done it about 5 or 6 times already this year. I'm not sure if I left a plug undone or if I installed the wrong bulbs in there. Is there 2 plugs on the back of the VDO cluster on the '95-97 cars or just one. The 2 on the top are in, not sure how many down below there are.

 

After a few trips in the car I now see that the trip computer is not working. I guess my splice job failed and I'll have to tear into that dash again. I'm going to remove the dash pad, install an stand alone air bag and leave the pad off till I get this all sorted out. I didn't strip the wires when I spliced them together with the phone splice connectors. They are like the pic below. They even have a grease in them that goo out when you clamp them down.

 

Sorry to hear about this! I hate electrical issues! Thankfully, I haven't experienced any in my 850, but I'm still keeping my finger's crossed!

 

Ok, the dash pad has been off for a couple of weeks and the first thing I did when I pulled it off was check my connections. As soon as I did the lights come on and the other things started working good... Except for the exterior (ambient) temp reading in the led and then the trip computer started going on a blink.

So a few days later I pulled the plug and plugged it back in (the one on the top right side of the cluster) and the trip started working again. Still the exterior temp goes on the frits. It works about 1/2 the time but is usually 5 degrees off. From there it goes to 10 degrees low, and sometimes it reads 100 degrees low. Sometimes it just says "LO".

So I start to clip the wires one by one and seeing what goes out in the cluster. After re-splicing almost every wire that did not have the tip stripped on I finally hit a wire that cuts off the ambient temp reading. Splice that together and it reads fine for a couple of days and goes wacky again. So today I started the car and it was reading "lo" so I reach up and touch the far right 3 or 4 wires and it pops to 94 degrees. My guess is that this thing is very sensitive to the amount of power that goes to the cluster and the cluster display converts it to what temp is should show.

Anyway, after a little while it starts to drop again so I push and tug on each wire one by one and I look down and it's finally reading what it should. Since then it has been right on for the rest of the day, about 10 short trips. Haven't see that for a few months. So I figure the pin sticking out of the top of the cluster is not making the best contact with the wire harness that fits on top of it.

This is what I'm thinking I need to do... First I thought that I would pull the cluster and scrape the pins clean to make sure there is no corrosion on them but that may make them smaller and worse contact. Now I'm thinking the best thing to do would be to build up the pins somehow.

My question is, what would be the best way or thing to do to build up the pins a little so they are fatter. Example, if they are 1 mm thick, how can I make them 1.3 mm thick so the plug that fits on them gets a good connection? Should I try to coat the pins with some solider or is there some other liquid type stuff I can put on them? Any of you that have pulled the cluster knows that there is limited space to work with this. Or should I try to wedge a strand or two of thin copper wire in the plug to close the gap in the plug end to try to make a better connection there?

 

i would just replace the connectors altogether that would be the best solution.
or you could put a drop of dielectric grease on to each pin.

 

I did replace the plug, that's what all the splicing was about.

Dielectric grease? Is that a conductor?

 

Dielectric grease is electrically insulating and does not break down when high voltage is applied. It is often applied to electrical connectors, particularly those containing rubber gaskets, as a means of lubricating and sealing rubber portions of the connector without arcing.