Help dashboard gauges aren't working

vicwatson

Driving up the road this morning and noticed my temp gauge/miles per gallon etc gauge wasn't working. looked up and saw that petrol, speedo, rev counter and engine temp gauges weren't working:(:eek:

is it illegal to drive without gauges? i imagine it is. damn

Any help as to what's wrong is appreciated. its an e39 bmw yr 2000.

Vertakill

vicwatson wrote: »

Driving up the road this morning and noticed my temp gauge/miles per gallon etc gauge wasn't working. looked up and saw that petrol, speedo, rev counter and engine temp gauges weren't working:(:eek:

is it illegal to drive without gauges? i imagine it is. damn

Any help as to what's wrong is appreciated. its an e39 bmw yr 2000.

I'm pretty sure it's not illegal to drive without gauges considering a lot of old cars didn't even have a rev counter etc.

The last car I had that did what you're describing happened to have a loose wire in the wiring loom. The battery and alternator were no longer connected so the battery was powering things without being recharged as I drove. Eventually the car died and wouldn't start up until the battery was properly recharged and the wire fixed.

I'm guessing the wiring related to alternator/battery ... (unless you've been dismantling your dash recently and a cable has fallen out..).

2012 Rio

It is illegal to drive without a speedometer. See here: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1963/en/si/0190.html#zzsi190y1963a27

It's hard to know whats up with it. It could be as simple as a blow fuse of the instrucment panel, a loose plug at the rear, or the panel could be banjaxed.

But you definitely need a speedo. Everything else is OK but a speedo is required by law.


this is very unlikely to be an alternator/battery issue. 99.9% sure of this. If it was all the electrical systems would be down and the engine would not run. No. this is something which could be as simple as a loose connector or as complex as a fried cluster, or an ECU problem.

you should try to get the fault codes read. A normal reader will not get these type of codes - you need someone who can read BMW specific codes as these are probably B codes. the standard EOBD readers on read the P codes.

biko

If all of them are gone it sounds like an electrical issue. Start with fuses and connections.

vicwatson

Thanks for all the advice.

Came out and started car and hey presto, the flippin' things are back to normal, WTF??

Phantom is living in my car??

2012 Rio

Intermittent then. That has faulty connection somewhere at the top of the check list.

Remove the panel from the dash and with the engine running and as many dash lights on as possile wiggle the connectors on the back of it and see does the wiggling have any effect on the instruments.

Vertakill

I meant to write the wiring related to the alternator/battery rather than the actual alternator/battery itself - my bad.

As was with my situation that I explained, it was wiring in the wiring loom that was loose and the problem was very intermittent.

Bruthal

Likely a connection problem alright, possibly the actual connectors that plug into the back of the instrument panel are just not making good contact. Remove the panel, plug connectors out and back in might help it.