Newsgroups: rec.autos.misc
Subject: '92 Chevy S10 Blazer with digital dash - odo problem
From: gtsamson@bigfoot.no-hormel-products.com (Gregory Samson)
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 00:08:49 -0700
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Organization: Evil Microwizardry, Inc.
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I've got a '92 S10 Blazer with the digital instrument cluster (don't
ask... well, bought it from my mom after my dad passed away, 'cos she
doesn't like to drive trucks at all).

The digital odometer and trip-meter display was being wonky for a bit,
sometimes refusing to display anything at all (even at the full-segment
test when turning the key), sometimes displaying mixed-up patterns, and
sometimes acting completely normal.

Now, though, I'd garaged the Blazer for a couple of weeks while I looked
at getting a much smaller car for fuel efficiency reasons.  I went in
there to check the odo reading for the insurance, but starting up the
car resulted in a blank odometer.  No amount of restarts, jiggling or
tapping the instrument cluster, or anything else I could think of seemed
to help at all.

I have a rough theory that it may have been due to condensation or
moisture inside the car - the heater core cracked (one of many expensive
repairs I've had to have done) and it was VERY moist inside the car,
practically wet, for a while, and when it was drier (e.g., after sitting
on hot days with a window cracked) it seemed to work more reliably.  I
tried to buy a dessicator tonight, but the shop only had the refill
crystals left.

Given my luck with this car so far (automatic transmission failure,
heater core crack), I'm assuming that other people have seen parts of
the digital dash displays fail.

Why does it happen?  And what does one do when it happens?  (Note I
didn't say 'if' - I really wonder what my dad was thinking when he
picked this version...)

Thanks for reading this far!  If you email a reply, please use the
address in the .sig, as the posting address for this is munged.  All
replies much appreciated!

-- 
Gregory Samson, MD - Dr. Evil Microwizard (gtsamson[at]bigfoot[dot]com)
"then one day you get that letter that you've been waiting for forever.
and everything that it says is true.  and in the last line it says:
burn this." - Laurie Anderson, _Same Time Tomorrow_
