79 Olds Road Dog

I have a 1979 H/O. The engine was rebuilt in the early 90's at just over 100k miles and I have about 11k on the rebuild. I store it every winter. Last year when I got it out. The gauges were all pegged but the oil pressure reads but lower than before. The pressure never seemed to vary much on use ever, before and after rebuild. It starts and stays at 20 where before it stayed above 30. I put a new sending unit, it has a wire, in with no change. The temp guage is maxed out and the volts are are bottomed out. The alternator puts out 14+v and the battery tester with load says strong. I have traced out the wires, looked for bad grounds, checked fuses...What alarms me the most is the lower than normal oil pressure.

BlueCalais79

The gauge setup in this cars is notorious for being faulty, Look out for a melted, battered printed circuit board. The Parts Place sells re-pop printed circuit boards, I have one in my 79 H/O as well as my blue 79 Calais and they cured alot of ills with these gauges. Or, you can possibly have the gauges sent out to be recalibrated but I'd examine the printed circuit board first. You may be shocked at what you see when you take a look at it.

Hurst_Olds_W-40

I had the same issue with the 79 H/O I just bought a few months back. I ordered a replacement circuit board, swapped it out, replaced all the bulb and bulb holders and tightened all the nuts on the back of the cluster. I also bent out the harness pins that connect to the cluster.

I now have all the gauges reading properly. It was a cheap and easy fix, needed and well worth the money.

BlueCalais79

Well done. Classic G-body Garage has a really great 20 minute video on re-doing a 79 Cutlass gauge pod. I used it both times I re-did mine, it also assists with keeping those pesky bulbs lit.

One thing you might consider. It is a matter of taste though. Replace all the pod bulbs (194, 168, 161) with matching number LED bulbs. The brand I would recommend is Sylvannia cool white bulbs. Not cheap, but the key here is these bulbs do not throw anything near the heat given off by the conventional bulbs. Therefore they will not melt the printed circuit board or the pale green pod. Anyone who has done this job knows the headache of getting several of these bulb sockets out of the pod, especially the upper corner tach side. Sometimes you can't get them back in once they are removed, due to the pod melting. I used LED bulbs in my 79 H/O. While not original, they are brighter and they do dim somewhat. If your pod is badly burned, I'd recommend attempting to find a gauge pod wherein the is a tach delete plate. No bulb was placed in tif the tach was not ordered and that socket hole should be in mint condition.

You will find the conventional bulb probably burned your H/O shifter plate socket hole, so badly the bulb & socket may be held in there with black tape. This will cease with the LED bulb.

79 Olds Road Dog

WOW I was not expecting such quick responses! But having years of schooling in vocational electronics and starting my degree in electrical engineering, my car jargon is inadequate to understand the responses. This circuit board to which all seem to address, this is on the back of the instrument cluster or within close proximity? It is easily accessible, removable and replaceable? The guage(s) are as well or new ones are preferred? I have no issue with LED lights as I worked gor a company that pioneered some of the first used to replace traffic signal bulbs and street lights, tho brightness and washout was always a complaint. Yes, there are dim spots in the guage cluster and speedometer, and the dual gate shifter in console light melted the holder. I am a believer in LED technology, well now after all the issues we found out the hard way didn't live up to the promises made by others and ourselves. know my H/O well, all its idiosyncratic variations and nuances, all seem well within accord of my sight, touch, smell and hearing. I will try to look at said videos and products, direct links if possible always makes ones life easier. I thank you all and good on you for having the intelligence to know and appreciate a real car of limited edition. We all know what favored cars of mass production can be compared with a certain human orifice. Tho darn near every house wife owned a late 70's Cutlass, less than 2499 can own a 79 H/O!

BlueCalais79

You are correct, the printed circuit board is located on the back of the instrument cluster. You'd need to remove most everything attached to it to get at it. I've done it so many times I can get through it fairly quickly, but take your time, alot of stuff can break along the way, and the way back. If you have cruise control you can disconnect the upper speedometer cable where it attaches to the cruise control unit, making it easier to remove the speedometer from the cluster by removing the 2 bolts, pulling it out a bit and then depressing the clip on the back of the speedometer head.

You will really benefit from watching the G-Body Garage video, it's a must see before doing this job. Avoid new gauges, if yours work properly you are a leg up on getting this job done right.

Man, that really peeved me when I installed an NOS H/O shifter plate on my console only to have that bulb burn right through the socket within a dang half hour of having it installed! I wish LED bulbs were around when I initially put it in.

I think the LED's look so good in my 79 H/O, I just may also convert to LED in my 79 Calais.

Hurst_Olds_W-40

I watched the G-Body Garage video before doing mine. Had not done one since the 80's. It was a huge help! It's 100% correct about getting the buld twist in's in and out. I had to use pliers on that top corner one. That's another reason I just ordered and replaced all the sockets and bulbs. At one point I will probably do the LED replacements, but not for a bit.

I repainted my shifter plate this weekend and did notice the housing was severely melted. I just left the assembly out as it's not really necessary here anyway.