Bucky92 Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 Sat I ran to Pennsylvania to Harrys U Pull It because work of a GL-10 was out...after some thought I said I would spend the money for gas to run down and grab it ( plus I could visit my friends there). Get there and ...yup..there is is..in the nastiest car I think I have ever seen. Anyway..pull it and come home..keeping fingers crossed that I didnt waste basically $60 in gas and $32 for the part. FFW..today I deside to try and swap them out.. Get the new one in...it screamed at me for a sec then WORKS!! all but the Speedo..I had temp fuel RPMS and trip.. I couldnt leave it alone at that noooo..so I start swapping parts betweent he 2 dashes trying to get the speedo to work..so what do I do...blow out the main board ..on the OK unit.:banghead::banghead: Found a burnt trace in the same spot on both boards..I am going to sneak them to work today and solder a jumper on then try again tomorrow ( I know for sure what the failed part is in the one dash unit,the one that blows out the main board..so that will NOT be going back it.) Giving it one more shot before going to the analog swap...Am I :horse: by messing with this digital dash? General Disorder has successfully done the swap..so any pointers would be soo appreciated....I have an analog dash and the sensors coming next week via Backwoodsboy. How long of a job and big of a chore is this really going to be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 11, 2008 Share Posted June 11, 2008 General Disorder has successfully done the swap..so any pointers would be soo appreciated....I have an analog dash and the sensors coming next week via Backwoodsboy. How long of a job and big of a chore is this really going to be? Now that you have a main board to sacrifice, it's actually not bad. Mine was a month-long nightmare because I wanted an '80 cluster with the vertical-moving needles . Turns out the circuits are different and the '80 cluster needed diodes added to some of the lighting circuits to properly interface with the car. You shouldn't have that problem. What I did was to cut the round plug's out of the main board and used them along with the connectors from an analog vehicle's cluster harness to build three adaptor harnesses. You will notice that the pressed-in pins of the digi's main board are convienently hollow on the backside. A bit of electronics flux and you can solder a wire inside of each pin very neatly. I used bullet connectors - all male on one side, and all female on the other side - to proto-type the harness. That allowed me to swap wires around if I needed to. I made color and pin charts for the two wireing schematics and I used small peices of heat shrink to color my wires from each plug. Two bits per wire of different colors gave me about 20 combinations with the various colors of heat shrink I had availible at the time..... now I would probably just cut lengths of color striped wire at work as I have access to it - or use 3M wire number tape. I had neither at the time though. Just keep it all organized and make charts of each wire, the circuits it feeds, and what color's and pins are associated with it on both the vehicle side and the analog side of the harness. If you need scans of any of the FSM stuff let me know. I have not only the FSM's but also the wireing troubleshooting book. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Can you email those to me? I'm going to see what I can get going on this end. I have a few spare digi's that I can sacrifice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted June 12, 2008 Share Posted June 12, 2008 Same here, email away! I'm waiting to see what others come up with as far as resusitating the old digis. In fact, I have my dash apart right now with two digi dashes and two analog sets. Just waiting to see which will be the most painless way to do things. On the analog swap front, I just picked up the dash wiring from an analog set up. Can I just unplug the old digi harness, replace it and the gauges with analog stuff? I know that the fuel and maybe temp senders might be calibrated differently, but by swapping the complete, uncut harness allow me to forgo the jumper harness GD has described? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted June 13, 2008 Author Share Posted June 13, 2008 I did find a smoked trace on the main board..between the 2 boards..behind the Speedo...I soldered a jumper on and have yet to try it out..I know my one Trip puter unit is bad and is what caused the blow out....I should try this today and see what happens.. Meanwhile...we are working on gathering parts for an analog swap...if successful we will try and document fully ..so others can do it too later Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted June 14, 2008 Author Share Posted June 14, 2008 My verdict on EA81 Digi Dashes...they all must burn in eternal damnation...Blew it again...without even starting the car...putting the key in the ign and BEEEEEP ..nothing.. Digi Dashes must die Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry DeMoss Posted June 14, 2008 Share Posted June 14, 2008 I wonder if it is an external cause (outside of the dash unit) that is making these burn up? Maybe needs a better inline voltage regulator or something? Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hondasucks Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 alternator goes out and cooks the dash. But the cooked part is some sort of voltage regulator or something. I had an 83 with the digidash, and every now and again it would randomly work perfectly, so don't assume just because you get a BEEEEEEEEP that the dash is completely hosed. I need to go dig my digidashes out and tinker with them again, since they are pretty stinkin neat when they work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry DeMoss Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 since they are pretty stinkin neat when they work. Yes they are! They are almost as nostalgic as a cyclops light when it comes to old subies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkankinPickle Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 I wonder if it is an external cause (outside of the dash unit) that is making these burn up? Maybe needs a better inline voltage regulator or something? Just a thought. Indeed. I'm pretty sure that it's some sort of grounding issue in the harness (causing the alternator to throw out excessive voltage). Every second-gen L-series I've owned has had a secondary switch for the radiator fan, not that it's related, but it seems like the factory circuit is very prone to shorting out. Maybe these problems are adjacent to one another in the harness(?). My GL-10 is currently in parts; otherwise i'd run through the harness with an electrical tester one small section at a time and isolate the drain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 It's not a grounding issue. They blow when the alternator puts out AC or the VR fails high. Poor grounds will result in too little voltage, not too much. And the fan is entirely different. I've owned over a dozen EA81's and never had one with a fan switch or had one that didn't have a working fan with either a cleaning of the contacts, replacing the thermoswitch, or fixing the radiator ground strap. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkankinPickle Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 GD, Question then. Couldn't a short cause the alternator to work excessively hard, and then cause premature failure? ...leaving the gauge cluster vulnerable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkankinPickle Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 Tips for Digital Dash Owners: 1.) Redo all of the main Battery power lines with all new cable of the same gauge. Mostly focus on the positive cable to the starter as well as the negative ground to the motor. The insides usually have corrosion four or five inches down the wire inside the insulation. 2.)Also don't forget that little ground wire that goes from the negative battery terminal to a little tab on the car's body right above the headlight (on 80-82) or above the battery on the wall (83-up). Replace all connectors and use sandpaper on the bolt. 3.)Buy a higher end alternator. But make sure that it is a different part number (Sometimes parts stores give you the same alternator yet just charge you more for a longer warrenty). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted June 15, 2008 Share Posted June 15, 2008 GD, Question then. Couldn't a short cause the alternator to work excessively hard, and then cause premature failure? ...leaving the gauge cluster vulnerable. A short is when you have a direct path to ground on a power circuit. That will blow fuses or start fires. If it doesn't do either of those then yes it will cause the alternator to overheat. I think you intended to ask about poor grounds, yes? If that's the case then no - poor grounds increase the resistance in the circuit - that causes many things including excessive heat. It uses less power as full voltage can't get to the accesories. The one exception to this is the sense circuit through the charge indicator lamp - if that circuit has too much resistance the alternator's VR will put out higher voltage to compensate for a perceived voltage drop that doesn't exist. But there aren't any grounds in that circuit - it's a fused power circuit from the battery positive, through the lamp, and to the VR's sensing line on the alt. Sometimes corrosion on the terminals at the back of the cluster can cause this - leaky windsheilds or cars that sit for a long time in damp climates often have that problem. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted June 15, 2008 Author Share Posted June 15, 2008 Let me explain why I am really ready to toss this whole digi dash mess away ...We ( being Turbone and myself) have swapped I believe a total of 6 dashes into this car...He tested the Alt and it was good... I just spent over $100 last weekend to run to PA and get a digi from a semi low mileage car that was in Harry's U Pull It. It did work..all except the speedometer.. I started swapping out parts between my bad dashand in the process smoked the "almost" good dash out...burnt out a trace...turns out both dashes had the same trace burnt..so I took to work and soldered a jumper wire onto both. I used my known good VR and tyested both dashes out...the first one ( from the bad dash) ..well..it was possessed by a demon spawn ..so something else is shorted out on that one...I put the "almost" good dash back in ..and it was like it was originally..all works except the speedometer..Cool..I can live with that for now..cause..you cant speed with an EA81 anyway. Let the car run for a good half hour...took it for a spin..all is good.. Next day...husband pushes car out of the garage ( He doesnt even want to attempt to find the sweet spot in the ignition) mows lawn..car sits outside till I wake up ( I work graveyard) ..I start car up..put back in garage..all fine.. Yesterday..have to move car out of garage again..put key in ign..turn it to accessory( did NOT even crank it) it starts screaming and smoke pours out of the dash again. Dead dash. This is too much BS trying to keep a primative outdated electronic nightmare working right...So it is going to go..Plus..There is only 1 exsisting WORKING digi that I know of..but it is lost for now in their stash. I am just going to put my extra good XT6 alt into the car..just in case..and swap it to analog...no more problems. It is a known fact its a faulty VR...and we have not been able to locate a replacement for it because it is so obsolete that NEC doesnt even have the specks on it anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkankinPickle Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 ...is that the voltage reg circled in the picture? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 ...is that the voltage reg circled in the picture? Link? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
presslab Posted June 16, 2008 Share Posted June 16, 2008 It is a known fact its a faulty VR...and we have not been able to locate a replacement for it because it is so obsolete that NEC doesnt even have the specks on it anymore Is this the faulty component the same as in the other thread? http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=718197&postcount=27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Bump. Whats the word good people? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bucky92 Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 Bump. Whats the word good people? I know mine has been put on hold due to a much more important issue..like head gaskets on the motor. We are just probably going to run all new wireing to the components and the analog dash.. But who knows when we will get around to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Connie, if you need any help with your swap or anything, let me know. I finished mine just before WCSS10 and I'm currently perfecting the install. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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