Weird Dash Lights issue (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Jan 18, 2018
Threads
5
Messages
295
Location
Nashville(ish), TN
Ok, guys and gals. I've gotten my self a moderate basket case '96. I fixed the O2 sensor and the SRS light that were keeping me from passing emissions here in Virginia.

UNFORTUNATELY, none of the lights on the dash that should be triggered by the OBD2 sensors are lighting.
Lights I have: Discharge, door open, ABS (works properly), SRS (works properly now), Brake, Cruise, High Beam, indicators, gauges, gear position

Lights I DON'T have: A/T, CEL, Oil

I've tested the grounds and they seem to be working, as I can get full power and ground through pin 5A ->1. I unscrewed, cleaned, and retightened all the little screws in the back of the gauge cluster, pulled all the bulbs, and swapped in known working bulbs to the lights that would not activate, wiggled everything, pulled and checked fuses, and tried the dimmer.

At this point, do you think my gauges are bad, or is there a way that the OBD sensor would read codes just fine, but not send anything to the dash?

I also get mV levels on those lights that should be triggered when the key is in the ON position. Not sure if it's supposed to be triggering relays or if there's an input voltage issue at those pins.

Any help is appreciated, and if and NOVA guys want to come over, I'll gladly pay you in scotch, beer, pizza, dollars, or whatever you want if you can make this thing light up.
 
When turning the key to the On position where the oil light usually gets power have you varied that it is?
 

Attachments

  • Combination Meter (1996 Land Cruiser).pdf
    90.9 KB · Views: 47
all incandescent bulbs. They all look good with the wires intact. Also swapped the bulb from the door open position to the other positions to test. I get no oil light. Is it monitored by OBD?
 
Just tested known working bulb in all non-working spots, and got no luck.

Could it be that the wires going TO the ECU are not making it there? The ECU looked like it had never been touched when I went in there earlier.
 
Exactly how are you testing each three the lights? Are these all along the bottom of the dash? The CEL is and the PO may have disabled that to hide issues, there is a "A/T P" light that should light when the transfer is placed in neutral and the trans in park. That is controlled by a sensor switch on the transfer case. There are three of those switches on the transfer case that commonly don't work properly. The A/T P switch is located on the rear extension of the transfer, looking towards the front is at the 10 o'clock position. You can remove the connector and put a jumper wire between the pins and that should turn the dash light on. There are two oil lights, one by the oil pressure gauge is an idiot light for low pressure and the second is on the bottom row and indicates low oil level in the sump. If you don't have a multi-meter I would suggest buying a cheap one at harbor freight.
 
I've been testing the ground pins to a frame ground, to the battery, and powered pins to ground pins with my Klein multimeter. I'm no stranger to chasing electrical gremlins on motorcycles, but this is my first major automotive project. I have had a "Don't mod your Daily" policy, but I really do need to get this thing to pass inspecion.
The lights in question are the ones on the bottom row below the gauges, yes. I don't think the PO knew enough to be able to disable the CEL, but what process could he have used to disable it? I can see that he didn't put tape over the bulb or behind the little black plastic thingy with the actual shapes and letters on it. A/T P is working properly.
 
Last edited:
Do you have the FSM?
 
Do you have the FSM?
Yup. And the EWD one. I'm searching in there right now for the lamp driver wire that might be why the ECU is not sending signals to the dash. I'm hoping it's not that. That ECU is $$$ and It doesn't look like mine's ever been touched. Also, everything else works fine. It seems suspicious that only that would have stopped working.
 
I'd look through the ECM troubleshooting flowchart. This would explain the CEL & A/T lights. It's unlikely that the combo meter wiring is at fault.

I'd suspect the oil sensor wiring before I'd worry with the combo meter.

That's my experience anyway. HTH
 
There are a number of them for sale, and not too expensive if memory serves. Used, but, beggars and all that...
 
Are the bulbs in question incandescent or LED?

Are LEDs known to have issues? I just replaced mine and having some issues (glowing, some warning lights I didn't have on before). I had pretty much decided to just switch them back (at least the warning lights).
 
They care about polarity.
 
Soooo.... CEL came back on after shaking, cleaning contacts, wiggling bulbs (AGAIN), and leaving battery completely unhooked all night. Now I just gotta chase the seat belt light. The Oil light comes on during cranking, but no other time. We'll see what's up with that, but at least there are relays and connectors to check for the last two.
 
The oil level light is supposed to be on when the engine isn't running. I can't remember if it's on during cranking, I never looked.

By seat belt light, do you mean the one in the lower left corner? That's part of the SRS. If you've lost a contact, you have to reset the code.
 
The seat belt light is next to the CEL, I think. Either way, there's no seat belt warning light on the dash at all. I don't know why the oil light comes on during cranking, but I think the A/T P one did, too. I stopped fiddling with it for the day so I could order more parts for suspension and wheel bearing fixes. I'm guessing I reset the codes thought the Diagnostic box under the hood the same way I reset the SRS light? I'll look that up. I'm good at that process of touching off leads to a clean ground. I'll see if it'll give me a code for that, too.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom