Hello list -

My oil pressure light (and buzzer) did not work when I bought my Vanagon.  I checked the sensors and they seem to be behaving correctly.

Next step was to pull the instrument cluster and check the LED.  My foil circuitry looks nothing like the Bentley, which led me to a long and agoninzing trace to find the correct test points for my LED.  Stupidly, I reversed the polarity when testing the light and it blew.

I hear that radio shack has replacements.  My first question is:  is this a blinking LED or is the blink function in the supporting circuitry?  Second question is where is the buzzer? On the L board or elsewhere?

Back to my original problem.
I haven't gone too far into the dash when I notice that the plastic frame that the speedo and tach, etc. screw into is absolutely shattered.  It crumbles in my hands.  Was this just a lousy run of plastic, did it freeze, get heat stressed, was it in an accident?  Very strange.  It is so crumbly that I don't really want to reinstall it.

My thinking now is to buy a used instrument cluster from a junk yard.  It has to be an 87 or later in order to have the whiz bang oil pressure L board.  I have found one here in the Portland area for $100 (gulp) which would be worth it if it solved my problems with the oil pressure system.  I know, I know, just put in a VDO oil pressure gauge and be done with it, but that doesn't address the flakiness of the instrument cluster frame.

Anyone out there have any insight about my plight?  Do all these plastic parts degrade this way?  Is the oil pressure L board system inherently bad, which means my $100 bucks is money down a rat hole?  Does anyone out there have an instrument cluster for sale?

DAR