91 explorer dash and engine swap 88 ranger

[tenga]

So I just finished up swapping in a 4.0 and explorer dash, got pretty much everything working except this issue. turn on the headlights and the voltage meter pins to zero, the tach stops working, the turn signal lights turn on and stay solid, and the high beam light goes on with the low beams on, and turns off when you turn on the high beams. Im stumped and havent been about to find a thread anywhere with someone have the same issue. Video included.

https://youtu.be/61dS4IalNAA

 

[RonD]

Assuming stock Ranger head light switch and multi-switch(turn signal stalk) then I would pull the cluster and its connectors
test voltage at each pin with key on headlights off, also test which wires are turn signals and high beam using multi-switch.

Then turn on head lights and see which other pins are now active, you can cut these leaving enough wire to splice back together and see if you can find the wire that is causing the explorer cluster to goof up.

It reads like head light switch is applying power to a cluster Ground pin, volt meter with 12volts on each leg reads 0 volts and lights are grounded at outside bulb's ground so come on.
My feeling is it will be the dash light power that is on the wrong pin for explorer cluster, so with light switch on adjust the dimmer and find the wire/pin that has the changing voltage, that would be my first stop.

You could try turning dimmer to OFF then turn on the head light switch and see if cluster acts normally.

Wiring diagram for '91 explorer cluster would be handy, also '88 ranger, lol.

 

[hoosier1104]

Definitely sounds like a grounding issue. Where I am not exactly sure. Like the almighty RonD mentioned, I would look at the light circuits first and step up or down from there.

RonD is a genius so he is pretty good at internet diagnosis on Rangers.

 

[tenga]

Assuming stock Ranger head light switch and multi-switch(turn signal stalk) then I would pull the cluster and its connectors
test voltage at each pin with key on headlights off, also test which wires are turn signals and high beam using multi-switch.

Then turn on head lights and see which other pins are now active, you can cut these leaving enough wire to splice back together and see if you can find the wire that is causing the explorer cluster to goof up.

It reads like head light switch is applying power to a cluster Ground pin, volt meter with 12volts on each leg reads 0 volts and lights are grounded at outside bulb's ground so come on.
My feeling is it will be the dash light power that is on the wrong pin for explorer cluster, so with light switch on adjust the dimmer and find the wire/pin that has the changing voltage, that would be my first stop.

You could try turning dimmer to OFF then turn on the head light switch and see if cluster acts normally.

Wiring diagram for '91 explorer cluster would be handy, also '88 ranger, lol.

Actually right now there is zero ranger wiring left except going to the tailights lol, swapped over everything. Good suggestions though. I was looking all over the diagrams but i couldn't see the connection between the switch and what's going on. I am fairly novice with wiring though.

 

[Spott]

If it helps, almost a year ago I researched the wiring diagrams and generated a nearly complete pinout for the '88 cluster. http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162371

 

[tenga]

If it helps, almost a year ago I researched the wiring diagrams and generated a nearly complete pinout for the '88 cluster. http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162371

Good info but unfortunately I don't think it applies since mine is completely 91 electronics now =(
Thanks though.