Hi all, need your opinions on a problem on my car,

first of all the background of my car, its a 1989 2wd saph, only mods are stage 1, chip air filter etc etc

I was driving home and i suddenly lost all lights on my dash. Here is a list of strange things that happened while trying to drive home



1. no lights on dashboard, but ecu lights like door open lights and water and petrol lights on as usuall then turn off as usual.

2. Phoned AA, but they sent out a sub ciontractor- PRICK- PJM RECOVERY!! He just took out every fuse to see if its blown, which it hasnt, then he just said ti drive home with no lights on my dash

He thought it was the bulb in my dash blown but it was not this.

3.The speedo, rev and tempreture gauge would not move at all when reved the engine from standing

4.When i drove home still with no lights on but the BATTERY light was on all the way home

5. The CLOCK reset itself to a random time

6. Whem driving home the DOOR OPEN lights were ON but faded

7. When BRAKING the low fuel and water lights would come on



I know cossies break down but im thinking this is some kind of short circuit which explains the strange lights etc etc

I phoned the AA up to complain about the service, and they took this attempted fix of my list of cal ous as you only get 5 for free per year!

What a crazy evening, any ideas much appreciated

Luke

 

Check the big terminal juction strip on the battery positive.
Make sure all wires are intact and in good condition and that all the
terminals are tight.

Also, check your fuse box hasnt melted internally.

 

what do u mean melt ineternally??what should i be checkin for as the fuse are all ok??

 

check the wiring loom mate where it passes down side of o/s/f chassis leg next to turbo due to the 2wd mainfold it tends to burn all wires, and can set car on fire so becarefull

 

lmao

On fire!! what doe sthe wiring loom look like then? From a beginners point of view please!

 

The loom runs under the Abs pump, may need to take heat sheild strut brace if fitted off,it is a cylinder shape wrapped in black electrical tape, i had the same problem when i changed to a 2wd mainfold and a mate of mine had the same common apparently

 

Might be worth checking the main earth connection/strap in the engine bay - these can and do corrode producing bizarre electronic faults - not sure where it is in a Cossie, but you'll find it somewhere on the bulkhead. Good luck!

 

any ideas where the earthing connection is on my 2wd saph??

cheers

luke

 

Main battery earth points are on battery tray just infront of the battery,from battery to bell housing of gearbox,on front of inlet manifold where throttle cable bracket bolts on,and one just in front of header tank bolted to front panel

There the ones I can think of off the top of my head m8

 

cheers fellar always helpfull as usual

 

any other ideas??

 

sounds like the pcb in the back of the dash has gone
if the battery light is on that means the battery isn't getting charged so i'd be carefull of how far you go in it like it is

all the dash lighting etc is controled by the dimmer switch so thats the first point of call
after that, pull the dashout to see if there is power going to the back of it, i'd assume not which is why nothing works on the dash but other stuff (like the glovebox) do
the clock is in with the same sort of curicit to that explains that one

other than that, there are a 1,000,001 things tht can go wonrg

 

check the dimmer for the lights-had one of these go a few years ago on a cossie and the fucker caught fire-melted all the loom.

 

same things happened to the granada i got off of while, taking it apart it seems that the dimmer siwtch has melted, resluting in things not working

 

so how do i check the dimmer switch is working, pull the swithc out and connect the two wires behind it yer??, if that doesnt work, hopefully the dash switch has fallen out, and if that dont help check the connections under the fuse box, in that order