Clocks issue, no water temp/indicator light/rev counter/fuel gauge/oil pressure

[Ben Lessani]

As title really, its that time of year again (MOTlyness) and my car has decided to pick a new bug. My clocks this week have been intermitantly not working, flicking the ign switch on and off doesn't seem to make them work either.

Basically, it can either happen straight from starting, or just in the middle of a drive - all the bits on the clocks just drop to 0 apart from the speedo (mechanical) and MFA (sep. circuit?).

Could this be something obvious? I going to have the clocks out anyway to inspect, so I can clean up the plugs and reseat all the connectors - just wondering if anyone had come across it before?

[Mr Blue]

my guess. plug has come lose or an earthing problem

[sidecarphil]

OMG

how long will this thread be ben

i would say look at the clocks , seems all in that area

aint thay prone for breaking

[Wayne]

Check your earths first, if not then could be a duff panel.

[Ben Lessani]

Earths are perfect, but given that its almost the whole clocks which die out - its probably a plug of some kind.

I'm going for 8 pages on this one

[rubjonny]

does the clock (time) also die?  if so then i agree its an earth issue. if not then probably not, as same earth is used for that IIRC.  check the black wire(s) to the clocks, this is what tells them thee car is 'on' without power here all of the above will switch off

[Ben Lessani]

No, the clock stays on and doesn't reset - infact the whole MFA stays operational.

[rubjonny]

the mfa works you say hmm, thats bad news then!  sounds like an internal cloclk fault, the mfa, rev counter etc all have the same ign live power & earth source so its not a wiring fault.  Maybe its your voltage regulator, from looking at my wiring diagrams this may only supply the features you say fail, mfa appears to get ign live direct from the ign switch rather than via the volt stabilisor...

[Ben Lessani]

I've found that whacking the top of the dash makes it work again - the weirdness!

There's a definite wiring issue going on!

[sidecarphil]

keep thwakking ben its cheaper then fixing it