hi art- thanks again. 1. youre right no red black wire in the speedo plug, rather 3 wires are blue, black, green-white. blue has power(tester bulb on) when key is turned to k11. used unpowered/no battery low voltage continuity tester. 2. flexible fuse does not look torn or blown. glad it will work in either direction. did not disturb it except to remove the washer screws at the ends of the fuse to allow the speedo to be removed from the white plastic cover. big questions: would a battery powered low voltage continuity tester work to test the flex fuses continuity at the two screws and does that fuse have to be good in order for the warning lights and speedo/odo to operate? 3. let me get something straight here- does this flex fuse protect the cluster from being fryed by mistakenly plugging the red white tach wire onto where the red yellow wire should go? i have been warned against this mistake and have not done it during this repair. 4. when i took the cluster out again after the odometer gear replacement and it speedo/odo and lights did not work, the only mistake i noticed was i had not tightened all the way one of the flex fuse screws which i then tightened- wondering if that is the problem. 5. next im going to reinstall the cluster again making all the plug ins in order and making sure the speedo 3 wire plug is snug and in correct position on the speedo board- actually there is only one way it will go. will wait to hear from you on the above questions before i reinstall. thanks tons for staying with me on this. oldduke