smoke from instrument cluster on 1991 Cadillac Brougham

Question

While driving home at night I stopped at a stop sign across the street from my house. Smoke started coming out of the defroster vent on the drivers side. At the same time my instrument cluster began to flicker. The smoke stopped and the instrument cluster had a dim white glow but no display. I took the dash apart and inspected the instrument cluster and found a burnt spot at the top center of the circuit board. It appears that either a capacitor or diode had failed and caught fire. A picture is included. The item is barrel shaped round with a wire coming out of each end that is soldered to the back of the circuit board. I tried to attach a picture to this question but could not find a way to do it. Any idea of what this item might be that failed. It is about 1/4 inch long with a single wire coming out of each end that is soldered to the back of the circuit board. In the past I could go to Radio Shack. But it has since gone bankrupt and our store has closed. Thank you

instrument cluster

narkeleptk · Answer

Go to "Edit" and you add image by clicking the icon shown here:

When I first read your post before you had the image uploaded I wast thinking it may be a tvs diode but based off the photo it looks kind of funny to be tvs diode, still 'd say its either tvs, schottky or maybe some other diode for protection. You may have a short in the cluster, short coming into cluster or it just crapped out itself.  I would remove it. Maybe could get a better idea of what it is. Then use use a DMM to first check for shorts between supply's and ground on the board. The unit may even work with out it. Keep in mind if it was a tvs diode then you had some series issue's hit the unit and if left off and reinstalled your cluster would likely get fried even worse.

smoke from instrument cluster on 1991 Cadillac Brougham

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