Dodgy Gauges & Crusty wiring harness

wapit247 · Post by **wapit247** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 12:35 pm

Hi All,

So my car has been sitting for over a year and it did not like it.
I just got the timing belt, water pump & alternator replaced, however the gauges (Fuel/Temp /Clock) are now randomly flashing, see video:

So I removed the dash and circuit boards to check their condition, which all appeared fine however what I did not expect was the crusty wiring harness!, see:

Its seems the factory tape that supported the harness had crumbled to bits, I don't think this has caused the issue with the gauges. However I removed all the crusty stuff and checked the joins under the blue tape in case there was any corrosion. All seemed good so just for good measure I added some solder to each joint and re-covered with fresh tape., see:

Post by **Drax** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:11 pm

blimey thats some crust! good work clearing it up though. the clocks random flashing is funky but understandably annoying

have you plugged them back in just to see if sorting the tape etc has helped?

wapit247 · Post by **wapit247** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:55 pm

Hey @Drax Unfortunately once I put it all back to together it was still broken. I am beginning to wonder is it’s an earthing issue.

Post by **Drax** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 3:11 pm

certainly check all your earths - i would also try and use a heater to dry the clock unit and if you can get one on an extension lead, get one going for a good while in the car - point it at the dash to try and dry out any damp

Post by **vanzep** » Tue Apr 05, 2022 5:59 pm

You should also check the ecu in the passenger footwell as moisture can get in there. Maybe unplug the ecu and take it out and have a look at the board

I had an issue with the temp/clock guage and replaced them - sometime later i removed the ecu and some years after that i had a look at the ecu and found what i believe caused the problem - one of the components in the ecu had burst - there was damp in the passenger footwell so maybe that was the cause - maybe not but the finger seems to point to the faulty component in the ecu. Took me years to arrive at this conclusion

I hate to ask but is there a fishy smell in your lude?

you can see the faulty (burst component) and scorch mark on the backside of the board