Ok, I am a Newb to this forum, but not to cars... so the story goes:

My girl owns a 1989 Camaro RS with the 305 slow-***** engine in it. Her last boyfriend was a mchanic and didnt like to work on her car so I have been working on it continuously for about a year now getting everything straightend out on it. I am almost done with getting all of the little bugs worked out of it, we just got a 92 RS parts car with black interior (hers is grey) and we are about to swap it out. but before we do she has a small issue with the gauges, they work fine except for when you turn the headlights on, the Tach, Fuel, Temp, Oil, and voltage all die out completly. I have tried a new headlight switch thinking this might fix it. But that didnt work out. I am a Car Stereo installer and I work at Best Buy (MECP Certified) and I know my stuff about electrical wiring in cars but I cannot figure this out to save my life.I recently put an alarm/keyless/Remote start in the car and when I was in there I noticed that non of the wires have ever been cut. She says it has done this since she bought it. Is this a common problem with these cars? Also, Is it possible to do a TPI setup on these cars? Is it worth it? Right now it has a TBI setup and it absolutly sucks... Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Alan

 

Ah the price you got to pay for poontang.
Have you checked all the grounds? Have you measured the voltage at the fuse for the gauges? Is the ignition switch burned or the wires melted near the switch? The lights work independantly from the switch but maybe it has something to do with the extra curent draw and the gauges are not getting enough allowing the lights to over power them.
Your gonna have to fix it or she may look for a new boyfriend.

 

grounds are good, no wires melted at the switch, 13.2 volts going to the cluster, the only thing I can think of is pulling the cluster and looking at the back of it to see the circuit board. 2 years... shes not going anywhere

 

try pulling out all the light bulbs in the dash behind the gauges. i had a short somewhere in my gauge circuit, and said eff it to the stock gauges. however, when i had the gauge lights on, sometimes a blinker bulb would glow when one of the bulbs would work. the circuits were all fine on the stamped backing, it was just acting retarded, so i pulled that bulb out, and now it works fine.

 

It could be a ground somewhere else. I bet when you brake into the dash board you will find a wire grounding out causing the problem.

 

You got a dang old point there I tell you what!
My brother had his headlights go out on his 90 RS and I found that his wires from the switch had rubbed a bracket in the dash. I fixed that for him and then found a fusable link corroded on the starter. I just pulled lightly on it and it pulled apart. It was not burned away. So I replaced that and it also fixed his rear hatch pull down that was working off and on.

 

Just like in the advance auto comercial, the guy was about to buy a new alt and come to find out it was a spent wire.... happens more often than not.

 

I do have that same problem with a blinker bulb constantly lit up when the headlights are on.

 

Wiggle the lamp housing. Dont be surprised by what you see.

 

What do you mean by the lamp housing? the actual rear part of the cluster?