Gauges aren't working

My wife's 98 XJ drained the battery while she was at work. Turns out all the courtesy lights were on even with the doors closed. I tried to fix it, but decided to just pull all the lights instead. I hate even thinking about electrical problems. Anyway, I went to pull the dome light and perhaps coincidentally the oil, temp, speedo, tach and gas gauges all went blank. I changed EVERY fuse in the truck with no luck. Now the courtesy lights don't even stay on. Are these problems related? Is there such thing as an instrument cluster relay? I'm pulling my hair out!

Stick the bulbs back in, disconnect the battery, reconnect a minute or two later and start again, someone probably hit the rear most light, it has a switch in it that will keep the interior lights on when all the doors are closed. I looked for it for like 2 hours with the factory service manual and a meter, my wife found it in 7 minutes with the owners manual, then get back to us. The switch operates by pushing the light...

I bought all new bulbs and put them in after disconnecting the battery. It was the first thing I tried. Forgot to mention that. Still nothing. Will that also affect my gauges, though? Or are these two different problems? The last part of your post ended with an ellipse, the switch works how? Maybe I put the bulbs in wrong. Thanks for the help thus far!
-Greg
'68 CJ5
'98 XJ

its common for 97 plus gauges to blank out i belive the proper fix is to pull the cluster and clean all the plug in terminals i just reach up and start shaking all the wires above the steering coloum

I had this problem but it turns out the battery wasn't holding a charge and my alternator was pretty much shot because it was trying to keep the battery charged. Get the alternator and the battery checked. This might work for ya.

my wife left the key turned on and ran my battery dead in my 92 cherokee, and I have the same problem you do except my lights work. I've been working on this problem for over a month now and I have finally broke down and taking it to the shop on friday. if you find out what it is post it and i will do the same.

good luck,

mike

I too have the same problem with my gauges.. Took the cluster out cleaned the plug and put it back together.. worked for alittle while and quit again. Didnt bother with it... Months and months later they came back on and have worked since.

However, my personal Jeep Parts salesman (Father) says the dealers have an updated plug for the rear of the cluster for the newer XJs.. Not sure if it could be made to work with the older style. I had just planned on putting in some Autometer gauges to fix the problem.

My '98 XJ guages are not working. This has been an intermittent condition over the past several months. At first the tach and odometers continued to work while all of the guaues and the speedo died. Now, nothing on the dash operates, at all.

I have repeatedly pulled the cluster, cleaned the pins, coated them and the plug with dielectric grease, and re-assembled. The first time it worked, immediately. The next time, no result, but then in a few days, everything was OK. Earlier this week, everything died. Unlike before, the odometer went, too. So I ran out of gas last night (in the snow and rain) because I was relying on my odo.

Anyhow, before repeating the whole process again, today, I did the Cluster Diagnosis (hoild the odometer reset button, turn the key to On, release the button, and watch the show - check YouTube), and all dash functions are good. What's next besides the dash ground wire? Thanks.

Jim
Grand Rapids, MI
'98 XJ mostly stock - Ranchos, KCs, rear disc brakes, Optima Red

If it's not a bad connection at the cluster, you could look up which wire is ground, ohm it out with a good nearby ground point for reference. If there is resistance(>1, perhaps), you could cut the insulation back, solder a wire to it and secure it to a good ground point.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it with the meter, and run another ground.