92 cavalier instrument cluster burning out?

[do it myself often]

While driving, I smelled burning wires. The tachometer stopped working at about that time. About 5 min. later, the speedometer stopped working. After the car was driven several more times (at least 70 miles), the odometer stopped working. And then the car stopped all together. The battery was dead. Recharging the battery got the car going again. It runs fine but I have not driven it to find out how long it will last. I checked the alternator output with a voltmeter and appears to be fine unless there is an intermittent, totally unrelated, issue to the instrument cluster problem.

Once I restarted the car, I noticed none of the control lights (abs, engine check, charge, etc.) work now. I took the cluster, which is all analog, out and checked the light bulbs. One light bulb behind the speedometer was burnt out. The others are fine. I think the fuel gauge, temperature gauge and oil pressure might still work.

Checked the fuses. All fine. Checked for open loop in the fuse cluster and found two open circuits. I dont have the layout for the fuse box anymore but I would guess it would be related to the interior wiring due to the instrument cluster malfunction - which did not surprise me; in fact, I expected to find something like that.

I looked for a short in the wiring (continuity check - open loop) with a voltmeter. Inconclusive - since without a wiring diagram I have no idea if all pins in the instrument cluster connector are hooked up.

My initial diagnosis was that some wire/s underneath the dashboard shorted out, which damaged the instrument cluster and at the same time slowly drained the battery. Now I am not so sure. I have not found anything; but it looks like a snake pit behind the connector.

I spent about 4 hours looking all over the internet to find somebody with a similar issue. Nothing. The closest were issues with instrument clusters reported in Buicks on this forum. So I registered and am posting this issue for somebody who would know how to step-diagnose the problem. I am hesitant to take the shot gun approach and replace the instrument cluster to find out if it will burn out again.