You're forcing me into the feature-length story, Art...

Yesterday I was convinced I had a bad gauge. Everything else on the cluster seemed to work OK. But - here's a clue - that way in daytime.

This morning I headed out early to bang some doves (2nd day of the season). With the key in the 'run' position, all the warning lights came on, a good sign. With the engine running, all looks good... and then I switched on the headlights. No instrument lights, the low beam position lights the high beams, clicking on the high beams lit the low beams, and both green turn signal arrows were lit (steady, not flashing). OK, I don't have time to mess with this, just one more thing to fix... then I started driving and there was no speedo or odo.

As I drove I was sorting things out... and when electrical stuff goes weird on cars, it's almost always a ground problem. So I resolved to go sort out the likely ground problem once I got home. When I got home I saw your encouraging post about the fuel gauge, and in spite of 110 F heat I decided to start poking at the cluster again. I pulled it partway out, and that's when I saw that other multi-pin connector lying loose... it had dropped below the dash space a bit so it was out of sight, hence out of mind. I've pulled so many clusters (literally and figuratively) over the years that I don't sketch out the wire connections any more, and I guess that was my undoing. I blame the scorching heat and the sweat in my eyes.

By the way, while I was waiting for the replacement odo gear, I drove all week with the cluster removed. Probably not a great idea... I think the alternator warning light is required to complete the charging circuit. Thursday morning I was at a stop light and the radio suddenly went quiet. Thought the station had problems, but I couldn't pull in any other stations, so I thought the 10 year-old Pioneer receiver died. Then the light changed, I gave it some revs and let out the clutch, then the radio came back on and so did the blower. As a cop friend says, "in police work, we call this a clue...". Absent an alternator warning light, I guess I wouldn't know if the battery wasn't charging, huh?

But it's all back together and working fine... for now, at least!