Travis Armstrong

The oil pressure sensor didnt work when my dad bought his 50th edition. The gauge stayed at 80 psi. I replaced the sensor and started the car. The gauge now reads correctly (little over 40psi) but the instrument cluster started to pour out smoke smelling of electrical burn. What could have happened? I'm about to pull the instrument cluster out, but what should I look for?

oelarse

My first thought is that the 5volt reference voltage maybe some how is partly grounded in the new sensor or sensorplug causing excessive currentdraw from the cluster .




I would have disconnected the new sensor asap . Disconnected the HUD plug and move the cluster like this .
You can then measure the reference voltage , signal volt to the sensor in the cluster plug .

But I may also replace the " new" sensor with another new one because maybe a internal fault in sensor is causing the smoke .

tentuna

First do you have an ohm meter and know how to read it, unplug the sensor and see if it's shorted, second check the two wire cable to see if it's shorted. Either way you will have to remove the cluster and see what damage has been done. If smoke came pouring out that typically means burnt wires or the IPC cards (hopefully not). There are many post on how to pull the IPC on the forum so that should not be a problem. Once you have done that just post results.

Travis Armstrong

Pulled the dash pad. The smoke definitely came from the HUD. I pulled the HUD out and it smells horribly of burning electrical. The IPC seems to function as it did before and doesnt have a burned smell to it. Could it have been a coincidence?

Travis Armstrong

According to this diagram the reference voltage and signal wire for the sensor all return to the PCM. And the PCM uses a communication protocol known as DATALINK to send data to the IPC. So how could I test the sensor from the IPC plug?

oelarse

Sorry . My mind was at the wrong place appearantly .(must be the age )

You are correct and the oil sender signal goes straight to the PCM and from the PCM on a serial link to the cluster .
As you suggest It seems to be a coincidence since there is no electrical connection between the sender and the cluster ( even if I said so in a weak moment )

Travis Armstrong

No worries. Thanks for the valuable input. That diagram did help ease my fear that I caused some damage. Hope to hear from you again, as this car has all kinds of problems....harmonic balancer should be fun.

oelarse

Good to hear

I did replace my balancer three years ago and it was not so difficult to carry out ( my first C5 balancer replacement)
If it is of any interresst , here is a link of my work written in the Norwegian Corvetteforum .
A lot of photoes showing the way I did it . If you right click on your mouse when using the Chrome browser you can translate the Norwegian text and hopefully get some use of the text in addition to the photoes .

regards from Norway

GCG

Everything points to a coincidence. I wouldn't touch the IPC or the oil pressure sender. It seems they are fine. Concentrate on the HUD and let us know what you find.