need electrical help...dash lights and windows stopped working
 

Hey guys, last night all my dash gauges(tach, speedometer, fuel gauge) and lights went out (with the lone exception of the charging light still working) as well as my other dash things (cruise control window defogger etc) as well as the window motors and automatic seat belts on the entire car.

Looking over my Helms, it would appear that it's the stuff that go to the integrated control unit in this pic....

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/o...pspqylsw8z.jpg

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/o...psotc5grau.jpg

as well as all the stuff in this pic..

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/o...pspqylsw8z.jpg

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps9yefd0oz.jpg

Not sure where to start.

All fuses have been tested with a multimeter and are not blown.

Another thing is that the tachometer was the first to go then after a few seconds the rest of the gauges and the automatic seatbelt turned off as it unbuckled while I was driving to a fully retracted position.

Also, the door locks are fine but the windows don't work at all. Also, my car alarm has a bypass so that it will roll the windows up when I arm the car so fortunately it was able to roll them up when I got home and armed the car as they were down when this stuff happened so apparently however it bypasses the issue it's able to work around it.

thanks in advance for any help

It would appear that the charge light is powered by a different circuit than the rest of the cluster. Of course that does not explain the windows.

Do the tail lights work when the headlights are on?

I also saw your other thread on HT. It does not sound like an integrated control unit issue.

In your thread on HT, you mentioned a loose/unconnected ground wire under the under-hood fuse/relay box area. That is probably ground G251, which is used by the power window relay. That may be the source of your power window problem.

The dash lights and automatic seatbelts don't seem to share any common wiring. Dash light could be due to loose harness connection at under-dash fuse box, or Red/Black power (+) wiring harness connection at different connector or ground (-) wiring leading to ground G402, G402 is located at passenger side kick panel area. The gauges out may be due to loose harness connection at under-dash fuse box. -- There is an 18P gray harness connector at the front of the under-dash fuse box, check that it is securely plugged in; also visually check the wiring and terminals.

I'm thinking now this might be the ignition switch. All these things get powered by it via IG1 in the illustration. I'm going to go into in depth electrical troubleshooting tomorrow.

I'll start looking for battery in the underhood relay box fuses then check at the ignition switch, then at the No.1(10A) fuse. All these things share the same circuit up until that point.

I'll post updates.

It may be more than just circuits related to the ignition switch being on, as the small lights should come on when the headlight switch is turned on (park or headlights). The small lights don't need the ignition switch on to work.

As I mentioned in my previous post, check the 18P gray harness connector at the front of the under-dash fuse box, check that it is securely plugged in; also visually check the wiring and terminals.

That is Connector C751, wires at C751 feeds power to the gauges and for lighting to the Dashlight Brightness Control (dimmer), Cruise Control Main Switch, Sunroof Switch, Cigarette Lighter, Heater Control Panel, Hazard Switch, Rear Window Defogger Switch, and Glove Box Light.

Yeah, the dash light itself that comes on when the headlights are on did come on. I shoulda mentioned that.

Anyway, I found the issue. I did have the no. 1(10a) dash fuse blown. Somehow I didn't notice when I tested all the fuses. So I tested for continuity to ground on the other side of the fuse while unplugging things on that end and when I got to the backup light switch I remembered that the backup switch on the tranny I had g-rigged so that it was just basically sitting on the switch and wasn't held down tight to the switch beacause the wire had came loose previously and I was too lazy to solder it back on. When I did my shift just as this issue started that wire came off and was landed and was sitting on the tranny causing the fuse to blow and my issues.

I'm good to go now. thanks for the help.

Glad you got is figured out.