Wade02

Due to my dead cluster, i assume its still possible to wire in a fuel level, oil press, and water temp gauge, correct?
If anybody here has done that, can u plz tell me what gauge u used and maybe post a pic. Thnk u
Veh is an '02 6cyl

mbb

Well you're going to lose functionality. There's a lot of stuff that goes on that depends on those readings. Even the oil pressure and water temp are not actual gauges..... Their readings of normal are used by the PCM. In fact there is no water temp, it's a cylinder head temperature and they calculate what the water temperature is based on that. Then that is used in the fuel mapping. I assume you don't need to pass any safety inspection that connects to OBD2.

The only way to fix these things is to fix them right. Without that the vehicle is basically usually worthless. That's okay if you just got a beater.

Without your CHT you might be in open loop mode all the time using lots of fuel

Bluegrass

Well let me explain it this way; you got yourself in more trouble than if the original fault was repaired.
If you had come here and I saw your post, I could have possibly helped.
What you did not know is the dash is 99% all electronic in operation.
It takes analogue sensor inputs and digital inputs from the PCM and converts them with a micro processor in the dash panel for display.
With programming and conversion being done, the sensors won't drive analogue gages very well.
The fuel gage was a normal variable resistance signal converted to digital then to it's display gage. How you will get any accuracy otherwise is a question.
Oil pressure is the same thing except the dash gage was not functional to pressure changes. Here you can use an mechanical or electrical gage installed in place of the original sensor that will work as you want.
For speedometer, there is no way to access that as the trans has no (proper way) to offer you an accurate signal. The dash and PCM calculated it and applied it to the dash readout.
Battery system could be handled by the old time methods using an Ammeter circuit.
Coolant temperature the same thing. No regular sensor. It would work if the some sensor is placed at the proper location in the coolant tract connected to a gage.
Hope you see that what you did trying to get around a lot of complex engineering cost way more than the original fault.
Matter of fact, the original dash operation was able to display all these function in what is called Engineering mode. The data is presented in Octal and Decimal forms and needed to be understood to see all the readings from fuel level to speed, to RPM and much more.
You lost all that ability and no CEL warning light if a code sets unless detected by a Scan tool.
All I have to offer now is good luck.

Bluegrass

Forgot to suggest you just might get lucky and fine a bad ground.
Remove the driver side kick panel.
Find a bunch of wires.
Dig around under them for the ground screw, It may be all rusted.
Hope it's your lucky day.

mbb

Is RPM , throttle position, etc used to shift the transmission? This ain't a vacuum system it's an electronic transmission.

Wade02

I really do appreciate the info. Yiu are totally correct when u say i should have addressed the orig. problem the correct way. Did i figure that by having havin PATS 'turned off' would kill my dashboard? No.
That being said, a very reputable guy who works on clusters says it checks out fine on his work bench. In the truck.....nope.
Being an over the road truck driver, i dont really have a way start all over, send the truck somewhere, because im rarely home. I could maybe buy a pcm, a cluster and see if a dealership will fix, BUT......a quick internet search revealed that dealers wont touch this problem. Also, even if they would, how would they even know what mileage to put in? Stupid legalities. (However, due to age of truck, if the state lets ya title it with a mileage that out of its 'service life..or however its stated, shouldnt a dealership be able to fix/reprogram?) Just spitballin' that idea.
Due to your info, i guess im just stuck. Ill carry a gas can in the back for 'just in case.
The other fix thats coming are the bushings for the IRMC motor/valve. Thats gonna be fun.
Again, thank yiu for the help/breakdown.

akdoggie

This is going to sound off, but did you check the fuse panel, fuses 2 and 6 in the cabin fuse panel? If I missed it, I'm sorry.

Wade02

I have. I started by finding anything thatbwas related to pcm/dash via a schematic and pulling them out. They were fine. Did the same thing for the box thats under the hood. For the relays that were designated pcm, i replaced them just to be sure. Thank u for the tip.
For the life of me, something just says that this is fixable with PATS turned off since the guy who worked on my cluster says it checked out.
The speedo bounces a little when ya rev it as well. Its getting signal, but not the 'right' signal.
Lastly, my friend that told me aftermarket radios can cause this. Well, he might be right. Im going to disconnect the radio harness that plugged into the radio harness and see what happens.
Thank you to everyone who had some input on this. Much appreciated