treeeman00

Hey guys. I am new here so this is my first post so hopefully someone can help me out. I know these forums are a great place for information so I plan on sticking around as this is my first Cummins Diesel. I am familiar with diesels as I own a 97 F350 powerstroke. I know I know, a powerstroke? Blah! lol I just bought a 97 dodge 2500 auto 4x4 eclb. I bought it not knowing the instrument cluster was not working. They previously had the dash out for heater core replacement. Every gauge is not working except for the oil pressure gauge. The transmission seems to shift fine, and the torque converter locks up. The wait to start, water in fuel and the other light I cant think of it all work fine. Ive been researching on here and I know this is an ongoing problem and I suspect the ESS. But from what I have read the ESS affects transmission shifting and TQ lockup. My question is since my tranny shift and lockup is fine could this still be the ESS? Can the ESS just affect some things if its going bad? I havent really read anything on here where the oil pressure gauge is working. Any help is greatly appreciated!

whiskers

These are the Gremlins we all dread in these trucks. The plugs behind the cluster are prone to not plug in correctly when putting the cluster back in, and the grounds are a real problem for dashes and other thing electrical. Those are the places to start. A lot of people have found they had to resodder the terminals on the back of the cluster in many cases.

treeeman00

thanks for the info! I will have to research on here where all the grounds are as im new to the cummins. I will have to inspect the terminals on the back of the cluster closer. Thanks again! Do the terminals on the back of the cluster develop cracks in the terminals and loose connectivity?

treeeman00

bump

patdaly

First, congrats on getting the best year truck......
Second, Genos Garage has factory service manuals for 35 bucks on CD. Believe me, this will be a godsend if you become hooked with these things like some of us.

Where are you located?

treeeman00

So what exactly makes 97 the best year for the dodge rams? I agree, I am gonna have to get a repair manual from Genos. I am from northern ohio.

patdaly

Last year of the first second gen ( 98 up brought much more electronics ), first year of the hydraboost brakes, and still the most reliable 12 valve engine ever made....... To each his own, but I always appreciated stark simplicity.

treeeman00

Yes I agree. Less electronics is better. I wish there was less electronics on the 97! LOL. Simplicity is better.

treeeman00

Problem solved! I went to a local junkyard today by my house who only deals in dodge parts. Anyways I drove my truck and bought some parts and was asking him about the cluster so he took a cluster he had and plugged it into my truck. Bam! Everything worked except for the fuel gauge! I was so happy...lol...Im assuming now that its either my sending unit or wiring in between the tank and cluster. This guy saved me some money because I was just getting ready to go buy a ESS!

patdaly

Great news. Keep your old cluster for parts. Fuel is likely sender, sometimes the gauge goes, but probably 85 percent of the time it is the sender.

Still make sure you grab one of the 35 dollar service manuals at Genos.....

treeeman00

Does the cd service manual contain all the same info..etc...that the full book service manual has?

patdaly

Yep, exact duplicate except they have a Mopar Performance watermark running through it, hardly noticeable. I put it on all my Computers, have it on the memory chip of my phone, and keep a USB stick with all my Cummins files in the truck.

You never know when you are going to break down in the middle of BFE, and computers are easier to find than Service Manuals. Now I just need to figure out how to build a small PC into the truck................