No Gauges

[CORover]

So all 4 of my primary gauges just died. They have done this on and off for a year or so, they always came back quickly, and I was working on other priorities. This time seems more permanent. the horn worn works, turn signals work. don't know if that rules out the rotary coupler or not.

2 side notes, I had intermittent start today twice, had to jiggle the shift handle and or touch the brake pedal a few times. And the SRS light just came on and is flashing at me.

Is there a common fix or some steps to go through? The sensors appear to be working, I can hook up an OBDII app and read them.

Searched and did not find, not sure if it scraped the old site though.

 

[squirt]

Sorry, I don't have a direct answer for you... There may be something D1-specific to look at, but in case you don't get any takers, I'd immediately look at a bad ground, or a bad/broken solder joint on a PCB in the cluster. I'd particularly lean in this direction since you mentioned it was intermittent before failing completely.

 

[German Gruner]

Check fuses, and you may check or touch/move/wd40 ground point. You can find it by unscrewing 2 plastic plugs to remove cap under dashboard, on the side of your left foot.

Regards

 

[KngTgr]

Good luck finding and fixing the problem,
Sorry for the hijack, but somewhat related, are there any sensors for oil pressure and or oil temperature? (I dont see the data on the "torque" app) if not, can they be installed? how hard would it be?

 

[Leadvagas]

OP, pull the gauge bezle dismount the guage pod and check your connectors to the gauge pod itself. You can clean the pod side of the connector with a pencil eraiser. The printed circuit/ribon cable on the back of the gauge pod will fail at some point. If you have the RAVE manual you should be able to trace the power in points on the ribbon connectors. You might try picking up a gauge pod from another D1, I think that '95 to early '99 are all interchangable.

 

[CORover]

The function just came back this morning. Might make it a little harder to fix now. I was kind of hoping they would be a hard fault this time. I guess I will start at the cluster and work out from their. IIRC there is also a ground block behind the cluster I will look at. and then the one in the foot well that gets mentioned a lot. Other than cleaning, is there something to make the connections more reliable? Do I try a recrimp or is there another option?

 

[German Gruner]

Ground from all circuits pass thru a point at fusebox/MFU (back of fusebox) and master ground point is a screw/nut with a multiple block connector one inch over carpet level. There is to find usually a contact trouble because of humidity...
Isntruments and aftermarket engine monitoring systems like madman, vigia are often affected by this

Regards

 

[Leadvagas]

The function just came back this morning. Might make it a little harder to fix now. I was kind of hoping they would be a hard fault this time. I guess I will start at the cluster and work out from their. IIRC there is also a ground block behind the cluster I will look at. and then the one in the foot well that gets mentioned a lot. Other than cleaning, is there something to make the connections more reliable? Do I try a recrimp or is there another option?

The connections at the gauge pod are old style ribbon connectors, with out a pin tool for the wire in side there is nothing to recrimp. The connector slides over a printed ribbon from the back of the instrument pod.

 

[mburnett]

Take something like a hammer hand!e and start tapping around to see if you can find where tapping will make it change states. That's my first try for finding intermittents. Second is wiggling wires. Wiggling usually pulls on things and sometimes makes an intermittent harder to find because it can fix it for a while(loose connector).

 

[CORover]

So this is back and a hard fault now. I can deal without the gauges except fuel, sucks to not know what I have. Also turn out this is related to the delayed start issue which I will also bring back. When I do not have the gauges, the car takes 3 or 4 seconds to start after turning the key. If I have the gauges working, it starts right away.

The symptoms used to be that I would put my foot on the brake and shift into reverse and many time the gauges would pop back to life, so I thought it was related to those circuits. I was never able to find it. I have tried most of the connectors and grounds I can find with no luck. Mostly just grabbing wires etc. Not with a meter and tester yet. Might have to spend a fair amount of time with the wiring diagram too.

 

[nfbeckman]

Do your reverse lights work? They are on the same fuse.

 

[p m]

FWIW - try disconnecting the vehicle speed sensor on the transfer case. If all gauges but the speedometer come back, it is your issue.

 

[CORover]

I'll check both of these, thanks

 

[CORover]

Reverse lights work. I'll check the speed sensor when things cool off a bit, still 90+ in the garage right now.

 

[p m]

A fuse that feeds both VSS and instrument panel is F14 (10A). It also feeds park/neutral position switch on Auto trucks, not reverse switch.

 

[CORover]

I have not pursued the fuses since it is an intermittent problem. But it could be the connectors to that fuse. The clock has always worked if I am reading that diagram correctly. One more thing to check, thanks.

 

[CORover]

Ding Ding Ding, F14 for the win! Not the fuse but the holder. This gets weird. I checked the fuse, continuity intact as usual. I pulled the fuse and noticed something sticking out of the holder. Someone had cut a tiny piece of aluminum from a Pepsi can and stuck it in the fuse holder to make a tighter fit for the blade. I pulled that out and stuck the fuse back in. The fuse was loose in the holder. I turned the car on and as I pushed down on the fuse, the gauges came back to life, as I pushed up, they all shut off. Same issue with the delayed start. Probably been there since I bought this in 98ish.

I have no idea how to fix it yet, have it temporarily expanded to press down on the fuse. I'll have to look more closely at the fuse block to see what I can do. Thanks Chris, thanks everyone! What a crazy deal...

 

[pdxrovermech]

working on a similar issue right now. had no gauges. replaced the fuse and all was good. Now every time i put the vehicle in reverse it blows the fuse again. guess ill check out the park/neutral switch.

 

[CORover]

The wires are pretty loose in there, I could see them getting pinched. Mine was torn apart for other reasons, so it was easy to poke around. The brake interlock is in the same plug, not sure if it is the same circuit or not.

 

[pdxrovermech]

WOW. So my fuse blowing issue after looking into the park switch, console shifter switch, and both taillight assemblies turned out to be the rearview mirror. Apparently something in the mirror was shorting causing the fuse to blow and leave you with no dash warning lights, tach, or reverse lights. Ridiculous.