gauges don't work

faTJeeper

New Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2005
Location
Raleigh, NC
hey everyone, first time posting but i've been reading the forum for a while. got a 97 tj 4banger. having an electrical problem. a few weeks ago all of my gauges stopped working along with radio and interior lights(warning and indicator lights still work). this happened one other time several months back but it was just a fuse. i've checked all my fuses several times and all are good. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
I'm guessing that you checked the fuses by eye. Sometimes they can look good and still be bad. I think your jeep also has fuses uner the hood. Find the apropriate fuse by it's number and label and replace it or check it with a meter or test light. Keep in mind that something is causing them to blow.
 
If it's not a fuse, I'd check for a loose chasis/main ground. Not sure on your TJ but many vehicles will use 1 "floating" ground for numerous instruments
 
Pull cluster out and clean behind, cleaning the bus and connections on back of cluster. I have heard of this happening on TJ's previously, this was one of the tips.

free fix's are good

Kevin
 
thanks for the replies. sorry, i should of mentioned of what i've done already. i checked all of the fuses with a tester and actually already took apart the gauge cluster and made sure everything was making contact. i'm thinking it's probably the ground. i just noticed today though that i occasionally get a little bit of movement from a couple of the gauges but just very briefly like maybe about 5 seconds then nothing which i'm thinking would mean a bad ground.
 
i checked that bulletin out, but that doesn't explain my situation exactly. my gauges and interior lights/radio all quit working at once, and there hasn't been anything wrong with my airbag warning light. also they're talking only about the speedo and/or tach while every single one of my gauges along with the odometer are not working.
 
Hmmmm, that does sound like a ground. I'm not sure how many of the dash components share the same ground. I'll crawl back under my bridge now.
 
hey just because a fuse tests ok with a meter, doesn't mean it is good.
My 80 amp stereo fuse worked with the test light and meter, but when
loaded it was no good. It wouldn't carry the current. the stereo would
come on for a second then go off. took us a while to figure that one out.

just my .02

but unless all the gauges are on the same fuse then it is most likely a ground strap has yanked out or somethings corroded.
 
most of the time when the radio, dash cluster or other components go out you lost either power or ground to a bank of fuses. Don't know too much about the wiring on a TJ, but most of the time its all the same - are there any other fuses that have no power on the same row? Take you test light with a good ground and test both sides of the fuse. Do you have a schematic for this circuit by any chance??
 
I know it aint no jeep but I had the same problem with my gauges. They would all be working fine and then everything would just stop. After some diggin, it wound up being my ignition switch going bad. Maybe you have some loose wires or possibly a faulty ignition switch.

Just thought I would throw in my two cents.
 
thanks for everyone's replies, haven't had time to take a closer look at things yet but i'm gonna sort it out this weekend. i have tried to look through the wiring schematics and all the things that are out seem to follow along the same circuit back to the power distribution center under the hood. i've taken that apart and all looks good with it. i'm betting it's a ground. i took the cluster out the other weekend and unplugged one of the connectors then the other to see what gauges/warning lights operated through which. some of the warning lights that work go through the same connector as the gauges that don't work so i'm pretty sure the problem isn't there.
 
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