Bad battery connection killed my gauge cluster?

Nukeman7 said:
Were you measuring the positive (+) voltage at the connector with the multimeter grounded on the body/chassis or grounded through the pin(s) at the connector? The multimeter's black probe needs to be grounded on the body/chassis/battery to get a true reading. Try again and post the actual voltage(s) that you are seeing at the connector pin.

You also need to take a continuity reading in Ohms between the negative (-) pin(s) at the connector and the battery's negative (-) terminal to check for excessive resistance. Normal resistance should be close to zero Ohms. Please post all of you readings here after retesting.

As others stated, be careful how you use the multimeter to prevent shorting a circuit to ground. This is a situation where using a Power Probe tester would be the proper way to protect the sensitive electronics. As a minimum, I suggest taking advantage of the Harbor Freight 15% off coupon to buy this rudimentary safe-probe.

View attachment 233700

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Great suggestion on the tool. I didn’t know such a simple device existed. I’ll try it out.
 
Nukeman7 said:
OK, so it appears that the two black ground wires on Pin #1 and Pin #52 on the respective plugs are showing open circuit? Or are they showing high resistance in Ohms?

If it is open circuit (i.e., zero continuity) I'd suggest getting a jumper cable and connecting one clamp to a good clean metal surface on the engine block or motor mount and the opposite end clamp on the negative battery terminal. Then retest Pins #1 and #52 for ground continuity (or just reconnect the gauge cluster). If both Pins now read good continuity (or the gauges work), you have confirmed a bad ground wire coming off of the battery's negative (-) post.
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This is what the directions say to test. How can I test for continuity without inserting a paper clip into the connectors? I don’t have a multimeter probe as small as these connector pins.

IMG_2672.webp
 
Kurtatron said:
This is what the directions say to test. How can I test for continuity without inserting a paper clip into the connectors? I don’t have a multimeter probe as small as these connector pins.
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If you don't have the Harbor Freight Maddox backprobe test adapters (see below), I'd recommend using a safety pin or needle instead of a paper clip. Sometimes the paper clip wire gauge is too thick and will bend the plug terminals resulting in a loose connection.

1722807002702.webp
 
Nukeman7 said:
If you don't have the Harbor Freight Maddox backprobe test adapters (see below), I'd recommend using a safety pin or needle instead of a paper clip. Sometimes the paper clip wire gauge is too thick and will bend the plug terminals resulting in a loose connection.

View attachment 233800
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You are on to something. I purchased the probe as you mentioned. Here’s the deal.

Terminal #1 is not producing any ground. That’s from the photo I showed earlier. If I’m reading this correctly, that means there is something wrong between wire ground at M61and the combination meter (gauge cluster) does that sound right?

I also did the jumper cable to the interior body ground and found no resolution.

IMG_2692.jpeg
 
And it looks like since terminal #52 connects to the same ground on that wiring diagram, ground at M61 is not the issue. I tested #52, that one connects to ground.

Maybe a nicked wire???
 
The question is "Where is M61?", near the battery? Or does the harness go by the battery on the way to wherever it is?
Is there a Ground Location table somewhere in your book?
 
Mechanician said:
The question is "Where is M61?", near the battery? Or does the harness go by the battery on the way to wherever it is?
Is there a Ground Location table somewhere in your book?
Click to expand...
I know where M61 is. I saw it behind the dashboard when I was doing an airbag replacement on this car. This is the diagram here. I even sanded and cleaned it. There was very minor corrosion. But that doesn’t matter. Look at my next post.
 
I’m a total moron guys.

I was reading the connector numbers backwards.

Turns out these numbers are when you’re look at the WIRE side of the connectors, not the PLUG-IN side. This time, I used that probe to check the positions correctly and BAM they’re all exactly as they should be!!!

Black wire is ground, not the green wire I was testing. I was testing the mirror image in the wrong direction. What a waste of time! Now to check the voltages…

IMG_2673.jpeg


IMG_2695.jpeg
 
Yes pins 45 & 46 are the two I referred to back in post 15. One always on 45, and one 46 switched with the ignition
 
everything checks out! 45 to 52 12.4 volts. 45 to 52 same with ignition on. And continuity between ground 1 and 2! So this likely means the gauge cluster is kaput! Sound right???
 
^ There's a decent chance. Go on eBay and look for rebuilt clusters for your specific car. If there are a bunch of them, they conk out frequently.
 
Quck google shows Nissan instrument clusters going out is not exactly rare.

However - if i messed with something and something else quit working, i'd look real close at what i messed with.
 
Kurtatron said:
everything checks out! 45 to 52 12.4 volts. 45 to 52 same with ignition on. And continuity between ground 1 and 2! So this likely means the gauge cluster is kaput! Sound right???
Click to expand...
If terminal 46 reads 0 volts with the ignition off and 12 volts with the ignition switch in the on and run positions, your testing indicates the circuit is working properly up to the gauge cluster connector plug. Therefore, odds are good that the defect is inside the gauge cluster.
 
eljefino said:
If your car's getting up there in age the cluster could have bad filter capacitors which wouldn't like dirty power, to include the sudden inrush of a normal battery voltage. More typical with GM than Nissan but hey...
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Cleaning the battery terminals might allow full voltage from the battery. 9 volts from the battery or 12 it's still pure (and clean) DC voltage. The alternator may introduce some less than clean DC power although but the battery acts a large capacitor.
 
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