gauges grounding out?

[72charger440]

i put the dash back into my charger today and once i hooked the all the gauges back up and i hookeded up the grounds 2 the dash. i hooked up the battery 2 check some stuff and once i got in the car the gauges moved a little bit and i could hear the gauges grounding out on the dash and i could see the spark does anybody have any ideas on what this could be and how to fix this? thanks

[72charger440]

wait isnt there a ground wire that hookes up to the back of the gauges to the dash? the only grounds i could find is the ones hooked up 2 the wires already, but i think i remember a ground wire hooked up 2 the gauges. does this sound right because i dont remember the dash has been out for 3 years

[FLG]

Got any pics of your wiring??

Make sure the 2 wires you have going to your amp meter are positive.

[72charger440]

their both positive some times the gauges ground out and sometimes the dont so im guessing that theres a positive wire some were grounding out, but when it really does it is when i try 2 put the screws into the gauges 2put them into place on the dash that y im wondering if there needs 2 b a ground on the gauges them seifs instead of the 1s hooked up in the wires already? but im not sure,

[nascarxx29]

If your talking about 2 positive wires are they a heavy black and heavy red one.They go to the amp gauge .And can sometime short out to the dash cluster frame

[72charger440]

yeah those r them i have them hooked up 2 the gauges but when i try 2 bolt the gauges in the gauges spark when i try puttin them in.

[nascarxx29]

Do you mean when you trying to put on either wire onto the amp gauge.You getting a spark then

[TylerCharger69]

The isolation bushings wore out causing power contact to the gauge housing??

[Nacho-RT74]

gauges ( so all the cluster ) mainly get the ground by chassis... then there is a ground reinforcement ( just on rallye cluster, not on standarts ) that grounds directly the voltage limiter on to a prong on limiter bracket that ALSO reinforce a little bit the chassis ground due is bolted directly to housing

Then on standarts there is a ground to voltage limiter too BUT is not linked to chassis ground.

but MAINLY ground by chassis is the source to all the cluster

[72charger440]

all the wires on the gauge cluster are hooked up the only time i get a spark is when i try 2 bolt the gauges into the dash is when i get a spark i put the gauges in, line up the holes and when i put a screw in  is when i get the spark. i disconnected my battery and finshed bolting in the gauges thinking nothing of it and when i hook my battery back up i cant because i get a big spark from the battery so then i took the gauges back out made sure everything was hooked up  right and tried reinstalling them and they still do it. and i found in the box i had the gauges and wire stuff in a little 3 inch black wire with 2 screw ends on them, thats why im wondering if the gauges have a ground wire by themselfs instead of the ones already in the wireing harness?

[Nacho-RT74]

gauges doesn't use ground because THE SENDER uses the ground to change the value so then the reading... gauges gets constant positive from voltage limiter

ground is just to voltage limiter and bulbs, thats why I specified THE CLUSTER GROUND.

well also wipers swith and lights swithc ( just for turn on the dome light ) use the ground at cluster

[72charger440]

ok. then i wonder what the problem is?

[Nacho-RT74]

ok, be sure the ammeter is totally isolated from housing, then also red and black heavy wires isolated too.

be sure also the RIGHT wire feeding the voltage limiter, the output from limiter to gauges stud ( non labeled )... gauges studs also isolated from housing

[72charger440]

Ok, i got under the dash and looked at the amp wires the heavy black and red one they both are by themselves they were touching each other, but i moved them away from each other and its still doing it when i try and hook the battery up. no wires are unhooked there all hooked up properly 2, so what do i do next, any suggest?

[FLG]

Make sure amp gauge is isolated. Try disconnecting both wires and put them together with a bolt and nut. There both positive and all of your cars wiring run through those wires.

[72charger440]

ok ill go give that a shot and see what it does.

[FLG]

Obviously make sure they dont touch anything either 

[72charger440]

well i did it and now it doesnt do it the car start 2 , whats that mean the ampmeter gauges is bad?