XJ-S 1990 - Instrument Cluster work

Hello all,

Back in May 18’ I asked about the Instrument Cluster removal, almost a year later I started to work on that and was able to remove the cluster, thanks mainly to Paul Novak. The cluster seems vey clean, no rust, no corrosion … so

Looking at the back of it and wanting to clean/enhance it a bit I have some questions:

  1. Some people suggest you shoud put nuts on the screws to enhance the contacts between them and the circuit print, should I?

  2. I read in some places that the grounding wasn’t perfect, so people suggest to add a ground wire somewhere. Should I and where should I connect it on the cluster?

  3. Should I take some time to clean the contacts even though they “look” quite ok?

  4. I want to replace all bulbs by Led ones, I have access to the upper rows (the 17 small ones, commanding the main indicators) but how do I remove the front panel? I removed already about 9 screws all around the cluster, the upper part is getting loose but not the lower part, as I don’t wantto break something I’d rather ask here first.

    I’ll attach a picture of the cluster so you get an idea about his shape.
    Thank you in advance.
    Guy

Personally, I would do none of the above. It looks brand new! Besides, any time you touch the plug contacts you run the risk of delaminating them.

and from reading forum posts over the years, there is some question about getting LEDs that fit, have proper amps draws etc, and possible impact on bulb continuity check functionality.

If you do go this route “be vewy vewy careful” with that circuit board sheet. I had mine out to put in a replacement oil gauge. While out I used a pencil eraser on contact areas and then lightly sprayed those points with electrical contact cleaner to help blow off any eraser residue and do whatever chemically based cleaning the spray would do.

Thank you Ed and Jim,

Just wanted to add the reason why I removed the cluster: sometimes while driving the tachometer falls to 0 and stays there for a few kilometers than goes again for another few ones then to 0 again and so on … hence I started looking around and found some discussions in here and other Jaguar related groups, suggesting some of the points I mentionned. In conclusion I migth follow your suggestions, do (almost) nothing besides the cleaning part. I’ll see later on how the tacho reacts.

Regards,
Guy

That might not be in the dash cluster, it might be in the ignition amp. Or the wiring in between.

Hi Kirbert,

Thank you for the info, will 1st clean gently the contacts, put everything in place again … drive a bit and see if the issue comes back. Should it come back will go your way and see where I end up.

Regards,
Guy

Your tach problem could be a faulty connection for the tach wire that connects to the Ignition Amp box. It is a flimsy little connection plug. Which is what Kirby was referring to.

So here I am again. Took some time but I drove about 250kms and so far so good the speedometer works fine without issues, let’s cross fingers.
All I did was removing the cluster, clean all the contacts and put the cluster in place again.
Will see in the coming hundreds of kilometers how it goes.
Regards,
Guy

Guy,
Congratulations on getting your instrument cluster out and then back in and getting your speedometer working properly again. Sometimes we get lucky!

Paul

Sometimes works the other way around, my speedo was working, but not odometer. I took mine out and sprayed the tiny ELEC board with electric cleaner (it was corroded). Odometer still doesn’t work, but now speedo won’t work first 5 minutes of driving. DOH!