So I made a post the other day about my car randomly dying while driving, which turned out to be the ignition switch. Since I fixed it, my gauge cluster has been acting up. Do not know if it is related or not.

I will sometimes be driving, and depending on what all is turned on in the car my gauge cluster will either start jumping around or just died completely. Sometimes all the gauges quit working, and sometimes it is just the tachometer and the speedo. It doesn't do it all the time, only if the headlights are on. It only does it if im putting a bunch of electrical drain on the car such as the headlights being on, the radio being on, and the heater or AC being on.

Example. (Started doing it yesterday, had defrost running when it started and as soon as I cut defrost off the tach and Speedo started working again.)

Checked all of the fuses and they are good. Also have a check engine light on but that is related to a bad oil pressure switch that I haven't got around to fixing get. Any ideas?

 

How did you "fix" the ignition switch? The switch is on the left side of the steering column and has a large wire that runs under the dash and over to the electrical panel on left side under dash. If the switch isn't positioned right, or is taken apart and not reassembled right, or is seems repaired but is still not making consistent electrical contact inside of it to correspond to the various key positions, you will get symptoms like you are getting. The power does flow through that switch. As you probably saw, that switch has a plastic gear that is turned by a prong that turns when you turn the key. If that little gear is chewed up, or the metal prong that goes into it is not seated properly or is slipping in some way, you will get the symptoms you are getting.

Make sure everything is tightened down on that part. Can't leave out any screws or half tighten any. When I did mine, I had to really scramble to get to one of the screws, but a very small offset screwdriver worked. Some people bend screwdrivers to make the tool they need.

You might take it out again and double check everything. including the connection at the fuse panel to make sure it is snugged up completely. Sometimes the key cylinder can get messed up too. Does your steering column lock like it is supposed to? If not, make sure your key cylinder is installed properly. There is only one way for all of that to go together, and again, all of the screws must be tightened down.

 

I replaced it with a whole new ignition switch, new key, and new wiring. Everything with the switch is good, assembly and connection wise.