All about them gauges

[cheetolegs]

So I have a 93 Ranger 4.0L 4x4 with a manual transmission.

Problem:
All of the gauges with the exception of the speedometer gauge are dead. The speedometer gauge goes crazy when you accelerate and goes to the correct speed when you let off of the gas.

When it happened:
I knew a guy that needed some cash so he did a lot of work on it for me. He replaced the AC system, the emergency brake cable, and worked on the brakes.

Question:
How do I go about troubleshooting this? Could it actually be a bad cluster or some connection I'm not aware of? I'm thinking something happened when he was working under the dash with the emergency break line but I'm not finding any loose connections.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Nitrider73]

I know an alternators voltage regulator or the diodes inside could go bad and will make sensors and gauges go crazy. your best bet is to find another cluster out of a junk yard and replace it just to see if its nit the cluster itself. I always keep an extra cluster for every vehicle I have just in case.