GM Gauge Cluster Stepper Repair and LED Install 

Thanks Rob! I really appreciate the feedback. You are very very welcome

Thank you kindly sir. I appreciate that!

Thank you! I know I have seen stuff there on other displays but wasn't sure on this one. I'm not so much a car guy as I am a general electronics guy. I can work on cars just fine(to a point) but when you get to the various models, its not my specialty at all. I really appreciate the info. Hopefully this thread will have enough answers for anyone else who searches for it.

Sweet! Thanks man!

Many thanks! I appreciate that! I found the LEDs on Amazon or Ebay. I want to say it was $20-30? It was pretty cheap. Now you can pop the LED into the adapter socket and plug it right in. No soldering needed. I think they are listed under "gauge light kits"

You're very welcome! I'm glad it was useful

Glad it helped!

Thanks man, I'm glad this is helping people.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z1q4VZmR8tI.html If you use an ohm meter and put one probe on the negative side of either of the capacitors at 10:39(the black stripe on the metal can), you can touch either of the pads. One pad will give you 0 ohms(or very close), that is Negative/Ground. The other pad will be many many Kilo Ohms or more and be positive. Then if you watch a little longer I do mark + on the positive pad side. 13:35 for instance, Look at the upper right. You can use that to find the other positive pads.

Hi Jason! Thanks for the compliment! I have to look into my purchase history but I will find it for you. The polarity I figured out by checking continuity from the negative side of a filter capacitor. Then marked it. Feel free to use my markings though. It'll be way easier. I'll need a few days to get you the part numbers but I will get you the numbers.

I agree with your assessment -- it is the best, but does not include the mapping of the polarity. You can determine that with a Digital volt meter (or an LED light). Unfortunately, I cannot include a PDF file with that mapping, but here it is as text: - Turn signals, + on top; - DS 17, DS 19 and DS 20: + Lower left corner; - DS xx, + Lower right corner (located just to the right of the spedo stepper); - DS 21, + Upper right corner; - DS 18 and DS 43 , + bottom center - Ground (-) opposite side ... Hope this helps

Im going to pin this or lock it or whatever its called so people can find this easier. Thank you for taking the time to share!

I could. I'd have to price out the motors but if you want email me, its listed on the about page and we can discuss.

Thanks so much!

If I recall correctly, I used the negative terminal of a filter capacitor. I measured continuity to each pin and marked them that way.

Speedometer is the only on that seams to be correct

Hmm. Might be the senders or the voltages being off due to bad capacitors on that board. I like your idea of starting at the senders though. Without knowing their condition, you may end up running in circles.

Which one? I learned many of the older steppers are different (temp versus gas guage etc)

For the fuel 1990 model

They did! In fact they worked until the truck died. These days you can buy led drop in bulbs so this method is kind of obsolete. But if you need your LEDs to never get loose, then soldering might be more reliable

It's possible. They are pretty delicate but is rule out the senders and battery voltage first

I used a capacitor to ohm out the polarity. I believe there is another comment here with the polarity listed.

Make sure you have a resistor or the leds will burn up. I think there is another comment here that has the layout. I found negative by measuring continuity from a negative side of a capacitor . The LED polarity is set by the lead length. The longer leg is the anode or positive. Shorter leg is the cathode or negative. You want some sort of resistor though to limit the current. Roughly 800-1200 ohm(1kohm) to get 10-20 milliamps to each led.

Yea I'm glad I watch your video. I cancelled my order and bought LEDs with built in resistors.

Sweet! Yeah you are better off with the pre-loaded resistors in this case. Next time I have a display in here, I will document the polarity better.

I forget honestly,but you can use the capacitors to determine it. Measure continuity from the negative side of the cap to each bulb contact. Every contact that measures zero ohms is the negative. Positive is obviously the other side.

I think my part number is SONCEBOZ 6403R200

I found it by measuring where the positive side of the capacitor connected if I recall correctly.

I soldered them on myself. You can also buy them ready to plug in without any soldering. Something like this would work. They are using 3 LED together which negates the need for a resistor. www.amazon.com/Partsam-Instrument-Cluster-Dashboard-Indicator/dp/B00XPCY4V6/ref=sr_1_15?

@@FixitFrank those don't have the resistors like the ones you installed, I installed them in my Tahoe and they burnt out in a year with no resistor.

@@Super240sxturbo makes sense. They will overheat at a full 12v and over 20ma. Nowadays you can buy direct drop in LEDs. They have the resistor built in. This kit is "ok". I have it and for most cars its fine. Some cars the socket is loose. smile.amazon.com/cciyu-Multi-color-Instrument-Dashboard-Cluster/dp/B014FBGKLC/ref=sr_1_2

Hi Tim. The PNRD12 display is called a VFD(vacuum fluorescent display). VFD's by design tend to have that blue/green look to them due to the gas inside the enclosure. It's not really possible to change the color with another component. The only way I can see to kind of change the color would be to use a colored light gel(colored plastic sheet used in the lighting business). Problem with that is the green/blue VFD wont give you much variation for red or yellow. It'd be a waste of your time in my opinion. A possibility would be replacing the entire VFD with an LED display but that is a huge modification that I wouldn't be able to explain in a comment. It would also be very expensive and time consuming.

ok where can i get the vactume tube for the transmission position indicator ?

@@FixitFrank It's burned out i need to replace it thats all. And thank you for your time

@@timhunt1989 ohh. I got you. They don't usually burn out. At least it's almost impossible to burn out. You probably lost a resistor that feeds the filament of the power to it. Above where it says DS19 is an array of resistors that I think send power to the tube. Make sure they are not bad. Another thing to try is carefully connect the display back up to the car(with it apart) and measure voltage at the VFD. You should have about 30V on one of the end pins. If not, that is your issue. The power supply in the display failed. I don't have one to look at or I'd tell you where the parts are. I'd start at that resistor array and re-solder them. I know they get hot and can desolder themselves, even if they look connected.

then again maybe it's the switch that tells the light what gear im in ?? any thoughts on that ?

I bought them on eBay if I recall correctly. You can now buy LEDs with bases that will fit in the existing socket. Check on eBay using the make of your vehicle and you will see many options.

You can actually buy drop in bulbs these days that replace the old ones with LEDs. No soldering required. Just lookup your model truck and "led gauge bulbs". I did my toyota truck with them and it was super easy.