ok, odometer went bad on my 87 240 wagon 212k i took apart the cluster and replaced the gear. The cluster was out of the car for a few days. now it wont start with the cluster in. starts just fine without the cluster installed.
i think the problem is due to a fried resistor on the printed board that the odometer motor is attached to. The resistor was fried when i took the odometer apart. it still gave continuity and resistance so i thought i could let it slide. But now the car wont start and this is my first guess. the resistor is the one in the first row under the 3 female prongs at the top of this circuit board. it is the one all the way to the left. It is burnt bad so i cant read the color code.

also. upon plugging the cluster in and powering it up the speedometer rises slowly
and there is no parking brake light. i believe ive plugged all wires back properly. they seem to only have one place for each wire.

Now,1. will this fried resistor prevent my car from starting?
2. anyone know the resistance or color code of the resistor?
3. any other ideas about what went wrong with my cluster?
Thank you very much for hearing me out.

DAMHIK - don't ask me how I know... about this

The red + white wire behind your instrument cluster is for a tach and only a tach. It will ruin anything else that you may connect it to in error.

Did you hook up that wire in a car with no tach?

Yellow + orange wire goes to lower corner of cluster, close to center of car.

Solid orange goes to the double-spade connector next to speedometer. You have the solid orange wire only if you have cruise control. Double spade terminal, they are both the same, plug the orange wire into either one.

The other wires all have dedicated terminal ends that will only go in the correct locations.
--
Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.

sweet, now i know where to wire the tach.
thanks.

Does it start now?

--
Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.

now my speedometer doesnt work
what a headache i wish they hadnt just thrown that tach wire back there with extra spots on the cluster to plug it into

so is it safe to assume that the speedometer gauge is fried and not the sending unit?

That's my guess - speedo bust-o, sending unit OK.

Lucky you.
When I made the same mistake, I wrecked the ign. switch and the distributor at the same time, as well as the cluster. Smoke from dash!

'89 had a slightly different speedo. You may be limited to something like '86 - '88 for a replacement.

Get more info from others here - there are guys who know these speedos better than I.
--
Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors, quad horns. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.

yes

would a loose connection back there cause the cruise control to not work?
--
1987 240DL...new Flame trap, Sport Air Filter( is now dead), soon to be sport exhuast(non turbo)...

I don't know.
Bad grounds are a general cause of trouble. If your cc is out to lunch and yuou want it working it might be worthwhile to make sure that ground is clean.

The classic cause of cruise control problems is vacuum leaks. Any loss of vacuum leaves less there to run the cc system. It needs plenty to run that accelerator pedal.

The other main cause of trouble - I'm told - on 240 cruise control is the switch on the brake pedal (and clutch if you have one). Apparently they get out of adjustment and/or the switch fails. But I never learned how to deal with those.

There are two switches on the brake if you have cc: brake light switch and cc switch. The brake light switch has only two wires and no vacuum device. The cc switch has a vacuum line and electrical.

--
Sven: '89 245 NA, 951 ECU, open-front airbox, E-fan, 205/65-15's, IPD sways, E-Codes, amber front corner reflectors. Wifemobile '89 245 NA stock. 90 244 NA spare, runs.