So I have an 81 monte that the temp, oil pressure gauges will stop working. If I push on the panel they come back to life but some times for a short time only. So I know its a problem with the connection behind the panel and what I have unsuccessfully tried is to clean the connection, bend up the connector terminal to provide more tension(did not help), shim the connector in the dash(made all gauges stop working) so it does not push back so far and shim the printed circuit board connection by putting paper behind it. (made all gauges stop working)
So my ideas are not getting me where I want to be, if I just put it back together like the factory I can get them to work by pushing on the dash but I want it to just work all the time. Has anyone came up with a "fix" for this?

 

Ok got it fixed - I ended up putting a shim between the plastic dash ear that support the instrument cluster connector and the steel frame of the dash. It prevented the ear from flexing back when the dash was pushed in then I drilled two small holes in the panel and used leg bolts to draw in the connector to the dash. Kinda like I have seen with how harness connectors connect to a pcm. So far no matter how much I shake the dash the gauges continue to work which they never did before in the 34 years I have lived with this problem.