Freaky electrical problem??!!!

I was driving my 94 XJ the other day on the interstate and noticed several miles down the road that the airbag, and yellow engine light was still on. Also..the tach and the speedometer were not working. After a few min. of continuing down the interstate everything all of a sudden operated correctly and the warning lights went out.
Has anybody out there seen this kind of thing before?

Thanks,

Durt

On my 98 XJ... I have the same issue, but the instrument cluster on the 98 is snapped into two bus connectors and yours has standard connectors...
I would check under the dashboard for loose connector(s) that the instrument cluster plugs into or possibly even a loose ground...

ya i have it too.. common problem with our jeeps. someone narrowed it down to a bad connection behind the dashboard i believe and replaced it and works fine.... i dont get it very often so just giver' a whack on the top of the instrument panel and evertyhing snaps-to.

Same thing here on my 98. Doesn't happen very often. When it does happen I just wack on top of the dash and it starts working again. Try cleaning the terminals on the connectors.

The instrument cluster has been in and out, cleaned the terminals on the cluster and buss connector and even had the factory TSB done about 7 years ago... Guess what.... Still happens periodically!!!
I have found one thing that works instead of WHACKKKING the top of the instrument cluster.... Try taking the directional arm and make a right turn when this happens... The Check Engine light extinguishes and the instruments return to normal everytime !!!

Once when I was in for a Smog Check; the technician observed the Check Engine Light on and gauges were frozen... He states... I cannot pass you; since you have the CEL. You need to have this fixed before I can pass you !!
I asked him if he noticed the gauges were frozen too !!! He hadn't......
I informed him that I have had the Jeep looked at 6 times by the dealer, had the factory TSB performed at the dealership and I personally have had the cluster out almost a dozen times..... and it still happens.
Suggested he make a right turn to return the gauges to normal and extinguish the CEL. He was amazed when it worked !!! :laugh2:

Oh Gosh!!! This is too funny but you know what? So un, yet totally believable. I have had a few quirky things in the past several years with the XJ but this one takes the cake.
I just don't want it to shut down on a trip.

Thanks to all who responded.
Keep the Durty side down!!!


Joe Durt

Rokee44 said:

just giver' a whack on the top of the instrument panel and evertyhing snaps-to.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure if tthe BFH method is best when dealing with airbag issues

I noticed one day that my dash cluster gauges werent working. All of my dash warning lights were on but my jeep was running fine. I was worried as this happened for most of the day.
I noticed as I was tapping the cluster that I grazed the key in the ignition and it moved back, and the cluster gauges worked, all lights went out.
Apparently my ignition was sticking alittle bit when I turned the key and wouldnt spring back all the way, a little lube fixed that.