The g/f has just arrived home in her 1998 S REG skoda octavia 1.6 .

Whilst driving along she noticed that all the gauges , speedo/fuel gauge/heater gauges ALL went off for a while ....car still drove fine ? she turned it off and back on again , still the same ....but then suddenly all came back on again

Is this common ?? anyone had the same problem

any ideas or help ?

ant

anyone ? im worried this may be a serious issue ?

I had this happen on my old Mondeo after it was valeted - in that case it was just poor connection(s) to the instrument cluster. Simply unplugging and reconnecting all the wires on the back of the cluster fixed it.

Any warning lights come on?? Could be a bad earth or even the alternator cable and the fuse box ontop of the battery, tho usually warning lights come on aswell

Nothing came on ....it ALL went off ?.....never done it before ....and was ok rest of the way ?....

Might be worth checking the earths, what about the headlights were they working fine??

yeah all the lights were working okay and it drove ok , but everything in the cabin went off dash lights/instruments the lot....

dash lights went off, or dash lights went off *and* all the guages stopped reading?

guage failure is sometimes a dry joint on the dashboard PCB

dash lights sounds like a faulty connection either near to the headlight switch, or the dimmer control. Or possibly a bulb has become dislodged and is shorting to earth (and take the rest of the bulbs) - however I would expect / hope a fuse would blow for that.

Next time you lose the guages, pull fuse F15. If they come back you have a faulty dash insert. This is often caused by dry joints.

Edited 26 January, 201115 yr by rwbaldwin

will keep all those in mind cheers

ant

ps it was all the gauges AND lights on the gauges that went off and stop reading

Edited 26 January, 201115 yr by vwnutant

will keep all those in mind cheers

ant

ps it was all the gauges AND lights on the gauges that went off and stop reading

That sounds better as it is less ikely to be the dash insert.

First things to check are uses F10, F11 and F15. All three feed the dash insert.

Next check the earths. The only earth connection that could cause this, is the one by the steering column. IIRC, it has a dome shaped nut. There are 2 brown wires from the dash insert that connect here.

And don't forget the 'obvious' - the battery connections and the point at which the earth strap from the battery is bolted to the gearbox/engine.

Edited 26 January, 201115 yr by rwbaldwin

if your losing just the gauges- chances are is it the dash insert (as someone else mentioned..) ive just repaired mine- 1 hr job- resoldered the voltage regulator (theres a how to on here somewhere) i was over the moon fiddly job- but big result

no it was the lights in the gauges and the actual working of all the guages....

It seems to only of lasted a minute....

something that did seem to happen at the same time was the front light went , and then a day later the other one ? not sure if linked

ant

no it was the lights in the gauges and the actual working of all the guages....

It seems to only of lasted a minute....

something that did seem to happen at the same time was the front light went , and then a day later the other one ? not sure if linked

ant

You need to check the alternator - the regulator may be failing. Blowing bulbs is often a sign.

Check the fusible links on top of the battery. There's ones which supplies most of the interior electrics (110A I think).

The car did it ALL the way home for her last night , no dash lights at all , and none of the instruments working!??........is it likely to be a relay/fuse somewhere

I did notice also that her 25a rear window fuse in the fuses had MELTED last week !? so I have changed that ..is that normal???

The car did it ALL the way home for her last night , no dash lights at all , and none of the instruments working!??........is it likely to be a relay/fuse somewhere

I did notice also that her 25a rear window fuse in the fuses had MELTED last week !? so I have changed that ..is that normal???

I still think it is the earth for the dash insert. Follow the two thick brown wires from the dash insert to the earth point.

'Terminal 30' power seems to be OK as otherwise the car would not run.

If you are really unlucky, it could be something inside the dash insert.

where do I need to look for these ? do I need to remove anything ? .....

ant