Dash Went Black - 1988 Coupe

[Bonnell]

Hi Everyone,

About two weeks ago, I was driving to work and my dash seemed to blink (all display wnet dark) and both turn signal lamps came on. This happened very fast and things were back to normal in about a second. This happened twice over the two week period.

This morning the dash simply went dark and both turn signal lamps remain on. It was dark when I was driving in and I mean the dash is BLACK - no light at all.

Once I parked, I tried turning the head lights off and on and I adjusted the dash potentiometer with no results. I turned the ignition off and then restarted the car. Again, the dash seems dead.

Any ideas???

Thanks,

J

[Mart]

This is a bad ground, It happens once a month on mine, I just push the display in and it's fixxed.


Kind of wierd but it works.

MArt

[HPG]

I recently saw another thread on the same problem. THe originator found a loose ground. He had a picture of a tapped bolt and two black wires which were the ground for the dash. He was not clear on where the ground bolt was located. It looked to be under the kick panel under the dash. I was interested since I also have an 88. Maybe someone can be more specific on the location.

[Bonnell]

Thanks for the responses. When I started my car last night to leave work, the dash came on and remained on through this morning. Worst case, I should be able to find a diagram of the electronics and I will provide a ground.

[RonJ]

Yep, sounds like a bad ground. With my 85, a bad bump brings on both turn signal indicators and the high beam indicator. Guess the dash is getting it's ground through those bulbs.

Hit the next bump, everything is back to normal. I'm not too concerned about it, BUT, is someone finds out where the dash ground is, please post it here and I'll dig into it!!!
Ron ...