Ok, went through the 50 million messages on both these issues (well not 50 million but close) lol and I can't find anything except to clean the contacts and it should help. Well my problem is not that they don't work at all, but that they work (light-up) and are broken. Here is a pic for you to see what I mean.



This is what the panel looks like after starting it up. Here is it closer..



The Compass will turn/circle a bit after starting up the car and then stop at this spot everytime. I've tried everything from cleaning the back of it to setting the differen't modes/areas.



Here the DIC changes everytime I use the car. Sometimes it shows all the stuff and other times just a lamp out or a few doors open. Most of the time though it has about this much on it to all of the stuff lite up. Now the question is, what could be wrong? Computer? Wiring? Just shot parts? Any help or thoughts would be cool.

Thanks in advance guys.

OMG! Another 87-91 SSE from Winnipeg! Finally, after all this waiting...lol. Where abouts in the city are you located?

I take it the compass doesn't move around when you are driving? If not, maybe try calibrating it and see what happens.

Calibration Procedure

In my FSM it says if compass shows right direction after start-up, but does not move while driving the "speed signals are not reaching the display" and you should "check speedometer operation and repair" otherwise replace the instrument cluster. Someone else may have a better suggestion. I am not too sure about the DIC, I have a similar problem. The windshield on the car diagram sometimes takes a couple seconds to appear and it goes out sometimes...not sure why.

Put the year and trim level in your sig......

I've got a spare SSE cluster here..... as far as I know it works.
Not sure of the year of it though..... the only thing wrong with it, is the plastic cover is broken. I was keeping it for spare parts.

Sounds like your DIC Module has taken a crap. This is the module that gives the DIC display, the info it displays. It is located just in front of the ECU [not sure if you can get to it from behind the glove box.. but I think it is possible.

The only thing I can think of, is to get a friend'* module and try it out. It is very possible that the display is at fault, but I could be wrong. Also if your friend is a good one, try borrowing his cluster too.. just in case that is the problem. If neither fix you up, it would be a wiring issue [I am 99.9% sure that is not the issue].

Just in case you were not aware, the DIC is dependent upon the Compass. There are a few parts on the Compass that are required to be operational for the DIC to work [trust me, I have confirmed this]. It may be that your Compass problem is related to your DIC problem.. but I don't think it causes weird occurances [like your situation], just more of, either it works, or doesn't.


-justin

Uuuuuggg. This subject hasn't come up in a while cause I think the rest of us that have wonky displays have just setteled for what we have, or don't have. Consider yourself lucky that you actually have something displaying.

I've seen my displays only when they want to make their show-biz appearances every so often so I can't tell you anything more than what has already been said but I am determined to find out what the problem is. There are two 91s in two different junkyards local to me and I intend on getting the clusters out of both of them. These added to the one I already have and the one in the car I'm picking up tomorrow, I should be able to get a better idea of what makes these things fail. That is unless all of the clusters are crap which wouldn't surprise me. Until then, try to recalibrate the compass and see if that solves at least the one problem.

Wow, I must be lucky then. Both my DIC and compass work pretty much flawlessly. They are both accurate as well.

The display part of my Compass display is shot [soon to be fixed], but my DIC works flawlessly as well . I'll soon figure out the problem associated with our clusters, so we can all fix them without buying expensive clusters and whatnot.


-justin

Check the fine wiring in the green harness behind the display. They tend to crack
and loose connection. You may have to take a small wire and jump it if you find a break. Just solder it from location to location.

Man, forgot all about this post. lol Well time to take the dash apart again and find this DIC module. Guess I should take lots of pics for those who might find the info useful.

My experince with electronics in my opinion is like TV sets. If you can't find anything visibly wrong in the wiring or solder connections you just remove and replace the whole unit.
If the replacing the module doesn't work I think GM has an exchange program for the cluster at one of their vendors.