I have no dash lights working in the instrument cluster. So I removed the lights and they still looked like good bulbs. I then replaced the socket without the bulb and tried to test the sockets to see if they were getting electricity. I was not able to detect any however this seems a bit hard to do since their are no direct wires running to the sockets. Anyhow the real problem was when I replaced the instrument cluster and started my car the gas gauge started going all haywire and soon to follow was the temperature gauge. They seem to at first react to the throttle then just max out. Then my battery keeps dying, (perhaps unrelated or due to me not getting a good connection, when I reconnected it after working on the dash).So does this just sound like some bad wires behind the dash and common elec-trickery or something more common? Also I am found of checking if the alternator is working on gas engines by simply removing a battery cable while the car is running. Is their any shortcuts on diesels without relying on a meter?