gauges not working

[greasyboi]

I believe my cluster may be broken on my 88 festiva. The speedometer goes all over the place and the other two are non functioning. To test the cluster I pulled the gauge off the block and stuck a wire in the connector then grounded that to the frame. Nothing. Anybody have any ideas? If it is broken where should i get a new one?

[Dragonhealer]

Trouble shooting procedures in the Factory Service Manual should get you there. Not sure if new components are still available, but many members here have used working spares they may be willing to sell.
Its a helpful crowd here!
On the speedo, if really cold, the grease is too stiff. Try warming the cluster in the house an hour and retest.

[FestYboy]

Speedo cable likely needs cleaned and lubed as well.

As for the gauges, check your fuses.

[bravekozak]

Check your METER fuse.

[greasyboi]

thank you all. I will check all of those. Another issue I have is with rust and the jack points. The place where I'd normally jack my car up is rusted out on both ends? Any good alternative spots?

[william]

On the rear beam and on the boxed section that the lower control arms bolt to up front.
I have the same issue kinda but mine are folded over from some jack wagon

[greasyboi]

thank you very much!

[1990new]

Check your METER fuse.

Ditto on Meter fuse.
Another clue.. when the meter fuse is blown the radiator cooling fan will run all the time if the ignition switch is on.
This is because the power to the fan relay (which breaks the ground to the fan when power is supplied to it) goes through the Meter fuse (that is unless you Fan fuse if blown too).

[greasyboi]

Hey all I checked the fuse and nothing... BUT the radiator fan runs at all times... hmn... I ran the car for a good 10 minutes around town came back and the engine was a little hot but I could touch it with my hand no issue. I'm thinking maybe the gauge does work and the vehicle just isn't heating up? Either way why would the fan run at all times?

[1990new]

If your meter fuse is not blown and your cooling fan is running when the switch is in the run position, Here is what to check next:
Is there a wire connected to the cooling fan switch (switch is screwed into the thermostat cover, not the head)?

If the wire is not connected here, no ground at all is provided to the cooling fan relay so the relay is not breaking the cooling
fan motor ground, so it will run all the time the switch is in the run position.

If there is a wire connected here, suspect either a bad cooling fan temperature switch or a bad cooling fan relay.

The cooling fan temperature switch opens the relay activation ground above 207F and closes it when the temperature is less than that.

If you cooling fan temperature switch is working correctly, then the cooling fan relay is bad. Either that or the cooling fan motor is making contact to ground somewhere before it gets to the relay.

The relay is black and may be enclosed in a vinyl shield. It is located in front of the coolant reservoir tank.
If you have AC, there are other relays involved that turn the cooling fan on also.

[bravekozak]

cooling.pdf

[greasyboi]

I'm not sure I can find the relay.. Any photos? There is a connector from the fan and I unplug that and the fan stops running. But after that It goes into a harness and I lose track

[1990new]

I'm not sure I can find the relay.. Any photos? There is a connector from the fan and I unplug that and the fan stops running. But after that It goes into a harness and I lose track

I copied this photo link from another thread in the forum.
The cooling fan relay is the black part with blue base H272. In your car it would likely be enclosed in a grey vinyl casing and attached to the left side of the engine bay in front of the radiator reservoir.
The black wire is the ground wire, the Black/Yellow Wire is from the meter fuse, the Yellow/Red wire is from the cooling fan motor and the Green/Yellow wire goes to the Cooling Fan Temperature switch.



If you haven't read this thread, I recommend that you read it and also the threads linked to in it:
http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...ing+fan+switch