Anyone clean the contacts on the back of their instrument cluster?

[mirage83]

I'm in the process of replacing some dead gauges, and thought that as long as I had the cluster out I might want to clean the oxidation and such off the contacts where the screws make contact with the elements and traces (gold?) on the film and along the back.

Anyone cleaned these contact points off before? What did you use? I'm considering using Deoxit Gold, but thought I would ask if anyone has had good luck with it for this application.

 

[Supracentral]

I'm in the process of replacing some dead gauges, and thought that as long as I had the cluster out I might want to clean the oxidation and such off the contacts where the screws make contact with the elements and traces (gold?) on the film and along the back.

Anyone cleaned these contact points off before? What did you use? I'm considering using Deoxit Gold, but thought I would ask if anyone has had good luck with it for this application.

Pencil eraser. I'm not kidding. Works great.

 

[mirage83]

Hmm, okay, I'll give that a shot here in a few minutes.

Related question... have you ever experienced a gauge or gauges which wouldn't work due to oxidation or dirty contact points on the film across the back of the cluster housing?

 

[Supracentral]

Hmm, okay, I'll give that a shot here in a few minutes.

Related question... have you ever experienced a gauge or gauges which wouldn't work due to oxidation or dirty contact points on the film across the back of the cluster housing?

Nope. I've cleaned the contacts just because the cluster was out and they looked dirty, but I've never had a problem with them.

 

[mirage83]

Well, you were (once again) dead on with the eraser trick. I tried two kinds that I had on hand, some latex-free low abrasive and the old-style large pink erasers. Of the two the old style worked best, cleaned the contact points up with very little effort. I'll find out in the morning after plugging the cluster back in if it made any kind of difference.

Right now I'm still stuck with a fuel gauge and volt meter which worked in one cluster (the old one I keep on hand for parts) but not in the one that's from my car. Hopefully cleaning the contacts after swapping the gauges will make a difference.

Thanks for the help.

 

[roadboy]

if anything you can sway over the circuit board if that is the problem

 

[mirage83]

Well, some progress made. Volt meter works, oil pressure gauge works. Fuel gauge shows a sign of life now, but whenever power is applied it moves from about 1/3 tank to well below empty. Not sure just what that symptom implies, but I'm open to suggestions.