Bone stock 40 thousand-mile 1971 Duster Auto/Air/225.

The only operational dash lights are the "BRIGHTS" indicator & the radio.

Everything was working fine, & *poof*-------dash lights gone.

Gas gauge is the only other dash component not working.
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What is the "GOLD-STANDARD" permanently corrective cure, to prevent it from happening again?

Thanks for your help!!

I would check panel on the back of the cluster, sometimes the plug has broken wires or is a little disconnected. Or the panel itself is corroded

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Annabelle: 1970 Dodge Dart Hardtop
1991 Nissan 240sx (sileighty) Lots of mods
1974 Dodge Dart *Wrecked*

You need to inspect every inch of your wiring harness while following the car’s electrical wiring diagram checking off each circuit as you go. Chances are good that one or two wires have become detached, or burnt off from the gage cluster circuit board. Also, often these old car’s wiring harness have been hacked up over the years for whatever reason, and those splices are rubbish.

Pay special attention to fuse block, amp gage connections, factory splices, and dirty circuit board connections. Also the rheostat/dimmer portion of headlight switch may be dirty, along with all of its brass spade connectors. Any corroded connections need to be cleaned, and or replaced with new connectors.

This little project will take a goodly amount of time to complete, but once wiring is back in good repair your car will become much more reliable.

If you tape anything up, use the good stuff, #33 3M electrical tape. It is not cheep, but will stay and not unravel, crack, or turn into a sticky mess. The cheep stuff is crap, and a waste of time.

Another good method of insulating any splices is utilizing shrink wrap. This can be purchased in small rolls of different diameters to be cut to length as needed. This stuff forms a tight seal any where it is used to cover a splice, or connector once heat is applied from a heat gun.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

I've also seen the pins on the back of the board get loose and make an intermittent connection.