Legacy GT-B BH5 Cluster Issue

[BOX]

Ok, thanks.

Have you ever had issues with the back lights turning off while driving?

This is what happens:

[rkrenicki]

Looks like a bad ground to me. You said hitting the dash fixes it? Perhaps a wire is pinched up in there somewhere.


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[BOX]

Yer I also thought that. but I looked at the wiring diagram & thought it might be a faulty illumination/tail light relay. the reason I say this is that my misses was driving behind me once & the tail lights also went out.

The fuel gauge is very inaccurate also, so I replaced the fuel sender & still the same.

Any idea where it grounds for the cluster? ill also check for pinched wires.

Edit: Judging from the poor wiring diagram I have, looks like all of the dash components are grounded below the ashtray?

[BOX]

swapped over the relay. still the same.
Checked the ground below the ashtray but that's not the one for the cluster. any idea where the ground is for the cluster?
But it seems to me like its a faulty cluster. couple of bangs & it either plays up or comes good.

[rkrenicki]

The cluster itself has two grounds (A18 and B7), two Battery Constants (A9 and C1), and three Ignition connections (A8, B5, C13). If any one of those connections is intermittent, it will do what it is doing for you.

I am also splitting off this conversation into its own thread, as the F/S area is not really the place for this.

[BOX]

correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't a poor connection just cut power to the while thing?
after to comes good, all are back to normal except the fuel which has gone to max full & takes a while to go back to normal.

the fuel gauge is always all over the shop, even when I have a full tank it will drop to empty. brand new sender on pump side, good sender on pass side.

[rkrenicki]

No, it will do exactly this if only part of the board is powered up. For some reason, Subaru did not cross connect the multiple power feeds. I can make a cluster do exactly the same thing on a test bench by disconnecting one of the grounds or one of the power constants. It was a head scratcher when I was testing my first cluster when I discovered this.

[BOX]

wow very interesting. i'll pull the cluster out & check the wiring.
one more thing it does it that all the back lights turn off (including the needles) & the hazard indicator lights stay constantly lit.
the speedo, tacho & temp still work.
same thing? power or ground?

[BOX]

had another look at the wiring diagram & B7 is the ground off fuel gauge. the fuel gauge is always playing up on me. if what your saying is true then is has to be B7 causing this issue.
if your right... I'm gonna...

[foohfooh]

The tension is killing me ...

[BOX]

Pulled the cluster out, started applying pressure to the B plug, low & behold, it started showing the issues I'm having.

Now, when I pull out B plug, I lose the illumination of the cluster & only the left indicator light stays on. Therefore, it cant be the B5 ignition wire because then this issue happens both indicator lights stay on.

B7 ground, I'm coming for you.

Just so people know, the location of where it is grounded is under the ashtray, bolted onto the body/frame.

[rkrenicki]

The turn signals have independent hot wires, they are not dependent on the rest of the cluster logic. The right turn signal is on B14, so if B was disconnected, that light would stop working no matter what.

I would not rule out B5 quite yet, but I would not stop tracing out B7.

another possibility is that the solder joints on the back side of the B connector may have a problem as well. You may want to reflow the solder on that connector if you have the tools to do so.

[BOX]

OK, so the B7 Ground is fine, no breaks.

Still need to test B5 Ignition.

But I did pull the cluster apart & I did notice that the solder joints on the back of the B connecter don't look good. I don't have the tools to add some more solder.
I'm leaning towards the cluster still being the issue.

[BOX]

Just wondering if anyone in BC can reflow my cluster? or know of someone?

[BOX]

Just an update on my cluster issue:

Had the solder reflowed on the circuit board & it has fixed the issue. Thanks for your help.

[rkrenicki]

Just an update on my cluster issue:

Had the solder reflowed on the circuit board & it has fixed the issue. Thanks for your help.

Excellent news! I am glad that you were able to get it all sorted out.

[salimebrahim]

Just an update on my cluster issue:

Had the solder reflowed on the circuit board & it has fixed the issue. Thanks for your help.

Hi there,
I am facing the same issue you had and seeing that you were able to solve it was a relief. Would you be able able to guide me where exactly you had the solder reflowed so that I may do the same.

Thanks in advance!

[Reuben]

Yeah this is a common issue on the BH’s, I’ve seen it many times. Usually it’s the fuel gauge that drops to empty randomly. Also get the tiptronic ones displaying the wrong gear when in manual mode. I wish I knew how to fix it. I’m guessing you pull the whole PCB out and get the whole thing reflowed.

[yomi]

I had this problem on my JDM 2000 Legacy GT. I re-flowed the solder joints on all of the connectors(the majority of them looked really bad) and the power issue seems to have been solved. I re-flowed the pins this past Sunday and these are the observations I've had basically driving to and from work so far. The issues i'm having currently are

-While the fuel gauge no longer seems to randomly drop to empty with the light coming on. The reading is not consistent(it fluctuates while driving, tho not very rapidly) and with a full tank of fuel it reads only about 3/4. Whereas before the fix it would show the correct fuel reading when not malfunctioning.

-The diagram of the car on the cluster display (that shows what doors are open) now stay on most of the time that the vehicle is running.

-The gear readout for manual mode on the cluster stays reading 4th gear most of the time even when not in manual shift mode. Seems that because of this, it does not highlight which gear the transmission is in, be it a forward or reverse gear.

-Tach and speedometer seem sticky and sluggish.

-I'm not certain of this yet but the coolant gauge doesn't seem to read properly(I don't think that I've seen it read at operating temp since, only below)

Any insight you guys could provide on the would be appreciated.

[rkrenicki]

I do not see how any of those issues could be caused by the reflow itself, except for perhaps the Sportshift indicator being stuck to saying 4. That is likely a short to either an adjacent pin or to another part on the board.

I suppose a possibility for the rest could be a poor ground. Either an issue with the reflow on one of the ground pins, or perhaps the harness being pinched/damaged during the removal/installation of the cluster.

[HaddockSwooze]

On a side note what mounting pillar and gauge is that?

[yomi]

I don't understand what you're asking.

[yomi]

Someone better versed with micro electronics suggested that i reflow all the joints on the board instead of just those on the connectors, as there may be micro cracks and such that are not visible. I will update after trying this, but I am heavily considering trying to source a replacement unit.

[HaddockSwooze]

What gauge is that and how do you have it mounted? @BOXX sorry wrong reply my bad!