Broken gauge cluster... burnt out fuse link...?

The previous owner... decided to make the Aux fan "Manual"... as in, take the wire by the pedals and plug it into the fuse block. However, he failed one time and stuck it in the wrong slot, thus blowing the gauge cluster. Nothing on it works. No tach, no gas, no odometer, no temp, no oil etc etc etc...

I need to get those things working again. The Aux fan runs from the #14 in the fuse block. He plugged it into the #15 I believe.

Where do I start trouble shooting this? When the Aux fan was plugged into the wrong spot, it blew everything. I have no idea where to start. (I've looked at the fuse block, all is well) I've also checked out the junction box, everything seems to be fine.

I can go through and check the fuses again, but i'm thinking it's a problem elsewhere. I don't want to have to replace the gauge cluster if that's not the issue.

Anyone got ideas where to start?

Thanks!

Bdiddy11 said:

Anyone got ideas where to start?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

The Year of your XJ.

I guess that could help too. 96 auto.

I'd go to fuse 17 in the fuse block (not the PDC) and make sure I have power on both ends of the fuse with the ignition in the run position.

The path is from fuse 6 in the PDC, through the ignition switch, through fuse 17 at the fuse block, to the instrument cluster.

You can also pull fuse 17 check which side has power, go to the other (opposite side) and do an ohm check to ground. Really excessive ohms or infinite ohms, would indicate an open ground or open power circuit.

Your fuse setup may be different than mine, my 96 has a lot of 95 parts in it (early 96 export). My owners manual fuse layout doesn't match what's in the vehicle about half the time.

Sweet tits Mcgee! It works! It was actually just the fuse in the #17 spot. Dunno why I didn't notice it before. But I started thinking about it, and when I thought about the # you said I went and checked the fuse after looking at another diagram as well.

Looked at the fuse, lo and behold it was a little busted up... and it was only 7.5 amp (didn't know halves existed) and it's supposed to be a 10A at least. Yahoo! Now I just gotta figure out why it doesn't always start up.