Mayday in Vegas! Dashboard Trouble

[tdoyle9760]

Hi All,

I'm in the middle of a 6000 mile trip on my 86 Venture. This morning I found that my entire dash readout stopped working. No fuel, temp, tach, or volts. No Turn signals or stop light either. Headlights and running lights work fine. Starts and runs great. Put 400 miles in the desert today without a problem.

Now heres where it get quacky. It WILL come on once in a while. It might stay on for 10 seconds or an hour. If I do anything that require power (Stop light, horn etc.) it will shut down again. At one point I hit the horn and the screen came back on!!

It should be noted that when it come on it goes thru the diagnostic test just like turning the key on.

It seems to be acting like a bad ground. Any Ideas?

[KarlS]

Have you upgraded the fuse block yet. Mine would do strange things like that and discovered the bottom of the fuse block was rusted away, Jumped the fuses with in line fuse holders and fuses from NAPA until the fuse block upgrade was done. Just a thought.

[tdoyle9760]

I'll take a look 1st thing in the morning. Thanks for the idea.

[dingy]

It will probably be the 4th fuse down from the ACCY terminals. A 20 amp fuse.

 

Like ic23b said fuse block. The spring clips weaken and don't hold fuses tight.

 

Tug on each of the glass fuses, any that are not tight on both ends need fixed asap.

 

Gary

[Zane]

I'm betting that you have a loose fuse (glass) or a wire on your fuse panel. Lost all the computer icons. I had that problem and put a little crimp on the connector and no more problem. BTW when this happened your neutral safety switch didn't work either. Mine failed and it started in 1st gear....WHEEEE! Away we went! Stopped it JUST before the shed door!

[tdoyle9760]

Thanks SO MUCH guys! You were all right! It turned out to be a prong on the fuse holder. I pulled the fuse and the prong fell right off. I ended up bypassing the fuse until I get back home, but after 200+ miles in the desert today, everything is fine. So, It's off to the redwoods in California and then wondering back home to kentucky.

Thanks again for the quick answers. Without you I'd still be looking for a ground problem!

[Flyinfool]

Glad you found a simple fix quick.

 

BUT

 

I would still invest the $5 and half hour of time to put an inline fuse holder on that circuit till you get home to do it right.

[KarlS]

Glad you found a simple fix quick.

 

BUT

 

I would still invest the $5 and half hour of time to put an inline fuse holder on that circuit till you get home to do it right.

 

 

:sign yeah that::sign yeah that:

[Guest retusn]

I don't know which way you are going to California, but if you want to take time and fix it tommorrow, I live in Pahrump (45 miles from Vegas) and you can jump over here and get the part(s) at NAPA. I have tools, garage, and time. Let me know.

r/Bob

[friesman]

Glad you found a simple fix quick.

 

BUT

 

I would still invest the $5 and half hour of time to put an inline fuse holder on that circuit till you get home to do it right.

 

 

Yeah, i would hate to see you cook something electronic just beacuse you dont have a 5 dollar inline fuse in. I wouldnt wait until i got home, it could fry and leave you stranded.

 

brian

[Guest byekryam]

Probably not the right place to post this, but at work on blackberry. On way top wpork in dark lost headlight and dashboard lights went out. Thinking fuse, but both went out simultaneously but runnin g lights and signals still on. All ledds on dasboard working for fuel guage etc. Anybody had any similar situations before I rip this apart tomorrow and satart investigating? The schematic shows fuse for headlight but doesn't say also dashboard lights. Aren't they the same usually? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks, woody