sloved my own problem. In the future when they say unplug the battery then I will probably do it. My problem was a bad fuel sending unit which was fine before I removed the instrument cluster.... and also a bad buzzer box (not sure what it's called but it buzzes when you first turn the ignition on) under the the driverside kick panel located right in front of the cruise control box and the same color (silver) only smaller. Evidently leaving the power hooked up shorted out both items. I was fortunate enough to have two wagons side by side so I could swap parts till I figured it out.
Hope my dumb mistakes helps someone else from making the same.
