Indicators and Dash Instruments not working

[Alex 855]

I need help.

My Indicators and Dash Gauges (Oil, Water, Ampere, Fuel) on my V8S not working!
But the Hazards, Speedo, rev counter, clock, dash-switches and illumination do.
The problem has begun on holiday in the heavy traffic in Salzburg City - that was not funny without indicators.
I come from Austria and the OEAMTC (automobile association) have looked in Salzburg for the problem.
But they could not fix the problem by the fast way.

Maybe you have a tip where I can look by myself to find the problem.
I think it is a "earthing" problem but where can I find the grounding points.
The connectors an fuses are all OK.

The center console and steering rack trim I have unmounted. There are many cables...it is very untidy - I think thats why the European People called the cars from Britain "British Elend".

BTW: What is the connector behind the Radio. A "alloy bomb" with a bulb and a colored prism inside. To this part many black cables from the gauges are connected. Is this for Illumination ??

Thanks for help.

Cheers
Alex from Austria

[gifdy]

The majority of my harness is earthed on the chassis rail in front of the passenger footwell in the engine bay. There are several wires connected to a stud on the diagonal down tube. I'll try to dig out a picture. If you can find these it would be worth cleaning up the connections

[gifdy]

One here :



The other here on the other side ( my starter is earthed directly to this )



Of course all cars could be different ! If not this then check the connections on the back of the fuse holders. The fuse my be OK but the connections on mine were under stress and could easily have broken/ gone intermittent.

Good luck !

p.s. yes, the "bomb" is for illumination. There are optic fibres that lead from this to various displays ( like the heater controls )

Edited by gifdy on Wednesday 15th May 11:16

[Barkychoc]

Could be earths as above, or yellow connector in steering column.
Have you checked all fuses?

You need to seperate the 2 halves of the yellow connector and look inside - an external visual inspection usually shows nothing.

[v8s4me]

You are quite right, the wiring behind the centre console and the dash is a complete nightmare and your problem does sound like a faulty earth. When I tidied up my wiring a couple of years ago I think I found 13 separate earth wires all held together with black tape. From memory I brought these together in to 2 or 3 groups and then attached them to one of the big bolts which you will find either side of the transmission tunnel, roughly in line with where the back of the radio would be.

If you have the time and patience you could separate and identify all the bundles of wires and then tidy them up into groups. I put block connectors in my loom so that the centre console can be disconnected from the rest of the loom so that it can be removed from the car easily.

Also check the yellow connector under the steering column. It might look OK but pull it apart to see if it is OK inside.

My experiences here

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Good luck.

[v8s4me]

Hi Alex – I’ve just looked up your location on Google Earth. What an amazing place to own a TVR! And when there’s too much snow to drive you can go skiing. Some people have all the luck

[Gerald-TVR]

If you send my your email address I can send aPDF of the basic wiring diagram

Norman

[seb400]

Alex 855 said:

BTW: What is the connector behind the Radio. A "alloy bomb" with a bulb and a colored prism inside. To this part many black cables from the gauges are connected. Is this for Illumination ??

Hi Alex

the "alloy bomb" bulb illuminates all the dash dials by way of fibre-optic cables. Each of these should 'plug/push' into a small mount in the top of the (white?) plastic switch holder\frame. If the bulb has blown none of the instrument lights will work.

Steve

[Alex 855]

Wow - that was fast - thanks for the answers.

Tomorrow I have time to look at the points that you have shown.
I hope I can fix the problem tomorrow or on Friday - this weekend is a TVR Meeting in Switzerland.

@V8SforMe: Yes this is a good place on earth.
Yes there are many big and small Skiing Areas around my Home. For Example I have 15 Minutes to the "Montafon", 30 minutes to the "Arlberg". But Skiing is so expensive...A Ticket for one day and one person costs between 35 - 48 Euro.
And yes we also have some great Roads for the Summer and a TVR.

Thanks to all for yor replies.

Cheers
Alex from Austria

Edited by Alex 855 on Wednesday 15th May 18:02

Edited by Alex 855 on Wednesday 15th May 18:02