Dashboard Gauges Stopped Working

Hello,

I own a 99 Cherokee, it was in an accident that destroyed the front sheetmetal. I bought another 99 with a blown motor and put my motor into it. Everything was good, I have been driving it for about a week.

Last night while driving home the dash froze up on me - the speedo and tach dropped to zero, the other gauges froze where they were and the Airbag light came on.

I pulled over and shut the car off and turned it back on hoping that would reset something. It did not work. When I turn the key on the Oil Pressure gauge moves up just a little but none of the other gauges move and the Airbag light stays on. I drove the 20 miles home from there like that.

Other than this issue the Jeep is running great. My guess is that some plug that I plugged in under the hood has come loose. It was dark when I got home so I couldn't check anything. I will tonight (hopefully depending on work). I am also planning on disconnecting and reconnecting the battery to see if that resets anything. I also have a code reader, the CEL is not on, but maybe that is part of the dash going dead.

I also own a 99 Neon, I know it has problems with the dash and you have to go in and reheat some of the solders to re-establish good connections. Is there any sort of known issues with the XJ dash?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Sammer

Im not sure about the airbag light but you can try taking the instrument panel out cleaning up the contacts on the backside and give each pin a slight tweak... not a twist but just move it a tiny bit. This should make better contact when you reinstall the panel.

Thanks for the response. I agree it could be in the dash. I am more suspicious that it is one of the plugs under the hood (given the short time since I changed the motor). I am hoping someone can tell me which plug(s) to look at.

Sammer

I had the exact same problem with my '98, right down to the airbag warning light. It just started doing that one day for no reason. All you have to do is hit the dash/tap the glass and your guages and they'll come back on, but to actually fix the problem you have to remove your guage cluster from the dash, clean the connections, and make sure it's on there really tight. It's about a 20 minute project.

Check the header connector between the engine wiring harness and the chassis wiring harness - I believe it is called C101 by the FSMs. It's a big connector on the firewall near the master cylinder that comes out behind the fuse panel (if any) under the dash. Also check the connector behind your cluster like sullysxj said, there is a TSB for some years that actually involves replacing the connector.