Dashboard gauges stop working

[willos]

I was driving my Boxster for 30-40 minutes and stopped at the grocery for about 10 mintus. When I came back and restart the car, all the meter gauges was not working i.e. speed, RPM, temp, fuel. However, all the other light incidators are working e.g. seatbelt, speed limit, PSM, turn sigal. My car is starting and driving fine.

Would appreciate any help on what this problem would be.....

[rob76turbo]

Look in the fuse guide and see if the lights and guages are on different fuses / relays. Good place to start.

[spine911]

As mentioned previously double check the fuses, and relays..If not this could possibly be an internal speedometer problem, after you mentioned that all the needle markers (rpm, speed, temp, fuel) does not work, but all the other lights work..Also, id check the cluster connection- there are 2 main connectors for the cluster.
Goodluck.

[willos]

Thanks for the advices.

Tried all the fuse associated with instrument cluster (B1, B10, E1) with no luck.
The fuse are all fine, I even tried the spare fuse on them to make sure.

Does anyone know where to find the 2003 relay chart? I found the 2000 chart but the relay names do not have too much direct relation with the instrument cluster:
http://theschillings.com/boxrelay.htm

I will try to disassemble the dash in the weekend to see whether it could be connection issues.

[willos]

Drove to work this morning and the gauges were not working. Same when I started the car after work, but during the way home, it all started working again.

This sounds pretty fragile...but I am happy that it is working again that's for sure.

[spine911]

Looks like it's more of a connector issue(internal speedo, or external main connectors). I'd check the connectors to be sure, you don't want to be driving around without the temp gauge working all the sudden.

[Lil bastard]

Starter (ignition) switch. Easy DIY.

[spine911]

Originally Posted by Lil bastard

Starter (ignition) switch. Easy DIY.

This could be it as well....The prelude to my 986 starter switch failure was the intermittent lighting of the Airbag light- all lights, gauges works.

[willos]

My gauges died again after working fine for the past day, doesn't move when I start up my car.

Ignition switch is a very good point, will try it out once I receive my order for the part.
Mean while I will check the panel connectors in the weekend.

[nacp11]

Originally Posted by willos

I was driving my Boxster for 30-40 minutes and stopped at the grocery for about 10 mintus. When I came back and restart the car, all the meter gauges was not working i.e. speed, RPM, temp, fuel. However, all the other light incidators are working e.g. seatbelt, speed limit, PSM, turn sigal. My car is starting and driving fine.

Would appreciate any help on what this problem would be.....

Hello, Did you ever figure the problem out? I am having the same problem and I would hate to buy an expensive new cluster to find out that wasnt the problem. You can contact me through the forum or email me at nacp1@myway.com. Thank you in advance for your help!

[willos]

Originally Posted by nacp11

Hello, Did you ever figure the problem out? I am having the same problem and I would hate to buy an expensive new cluster to find out that wasnt the problem. You can contact me through the forum or email me at nacp1@myway.com. Thank you in advance for your help!

Sorry but I still haven't gotten around to install the ignition switch. The cluster has been working more reliably recently so I pushed it back.

[urban_legend]

yup mine would freeze as well - always seemed worse in the sunlight/heat.
quick fix is to give it a nice firm tap to the front of the cluster - or top of the dash.

Mine would also toggle b/w km and miles at random as well.

[willos]

Just an update on this issue. I finally got around to installing a new ignition switch but it did not fix the problem. The instrument cluster is still having issues, in most cases it does work when starting up the car but eventually it comes back on.