Intermittent Dashboard Light Failure

February 24, 2009

Hi

Glad i've found this place, cos i've been doing my head in. I own an automatic 1.9 T reg avensis.

The problem;

Often of late the dashboard lights don't work, along with the lights, the instrument panel stays dead (fuel gauge, speedometer, rev counter, temp gauge) after i turn the car on! The engine works and I'm able to drive the car as per usual, except now i don't know how fast i'm going or how much fuel I've got left! The gear changes are slower (automatic car) and the revs are sometime higher, sometimes. This problem could last days and then sorts itself out, sometimes it works fine after a few minutes. Thought it might be a blown or loose fuse/capacitor so checked all of them (not knowing which one exactly related to the dashboard).

Nothing happening. So i googled the problem and discovered that a lot of people have encountered something similar and the remedies are many (from alternator changes to loose headlight switch), however none of them seem to work thus costing the poor souls a lot of money.

I may soon become one of those poor souls.

The request;

Has anybody encountered such a problem and were you able to successfully rectify it? Can anybody help me with the issue? I hope you can cos otherwise i'll need to go to a toyota place and that'll cost me more then what i have?

Many thanks

Tan341

February 24, 2009

Hi
Glad i've found this place, cos i've been doing my head in. I own an automatic 1.9 T reg avensis.
The problem;
Often of late the dashboard lights don't work, along with the lights, the instrument panel stays dead (fuel gauge, speedometer, rev counter, temp gauge) after i turn the car on! The engine works and I'm able to drive the car as per usual, except now i don't know how fast i'm going or how much fuel I've got left! The gear changes are slower (automatic car) and the revs are sometime higher, sometimes. This problem could last days and then sorts itself out, sometimes it works fine after a few minutes. Thought it might be a blown or loose fuse/capacitor so checked all of them (not knowing which one exactly related to the dashboard).
Nothing happening. So i googled the problem and discovered that a lot of people have encountered something similar and the remedies are many (from alternator changes to loose headlight switch), however none of them seem to work thus costing the poor souls a lot of money.
I may soon become one of those poor souls.
The request;
Has anybody encountered such a problem and were you able to successfully rectify it? Can anybody help me with the issue? I hope you can cos otherwise i'll need to go to a toyota place and that'll cost me more then what i have?
Many thanks
Tan341

The way it comes and goes makes it sound like a bad connection or a broken wire to me. I would start by checking every block connector you can find, pull them apart and check the terminals are good and no corrosion in there. Give the good ones a spray of wd40 and pop back together. If you find any grotty ones, you may have to change the connector.