I think this might be similar to what Cumminsdriver635 experienced in this thread https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...oto=nextnewest , but I'm not sure, so I'm asking here.

I got in my truck after work, turned the key on, and my "Wait to start" light came on for a second, then died. I wondered what the deal was with that, but I waited for about 30 seconds, then started the truck. Well, my guage cluster, and I mean the whole thing, volts, temp, fuel, oil, tach, and speedo, were all dead.

I shut the engine down, waited a minute, then tried again. Same response. So, I checked all the fuses and relays, and they're all fine. I started the truck back up, and checked the other controls. The blower control works fine, as do the lights. Radio, cigarette lighter, power outlet, all fine. It was 10 p.m., and I had to get home some how, so I decided to chance driving it home, since the engine was running just fine.

I started to take off from my parking spot, and noticed acceleration was really sluggish off the line. I only had to drive about 10 miles, so I limped it home. I took it easy, since I had no idea what my RPMs were, or how fast I was going. I also noticed that I couldn't control the O/D. I'd get no light, and had no way of knowing if it was active or not, regardless of pushing the switch on the gear selector. Acceleration was still really sluggish. I guess since it's late, I didn't think to do the 1-2-D bit.

I got home, parked in the driveway, and took another quick look around. I couldn't find any loose connections. I got back in, started the truck back up, and noticed that the trip/odo was flashing. Well, I have no idea what that means. So, I came to the forums to see if I could find out what the heck had happened to my truck!

I found that thread by cumminsdriver635, and am wondering if I might have the same problem. I have a 1998 12-valve 2500 with automatic tranny. I just changed out the tranny fluid and adjusted the bands to specs on Thanksgiving weekend. Could all this be caused by the bad engine speed sensor???

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

My first thought would you need to look harder for a blown fuse. Other than that a bad ground or wire that has come out of it's connector.

 

Well, I rechecked all the fuses/relays; they're all good. I pulled the cluster and checked the board; no scorch marks. The cluster is getting power ... I can see the oil pressure needle move from dead bottom up to the bottom red line. The trip is flashing on and off. I put an OBD II scanner on the truck, and got a "Link Error" message.

If the ESS is shot, would that cause the intake heater not to work (I don't know if it's working or not ... just that the WTS light is non-functional)? Or the "Wait to start" light not come on? Or could it be the intake air temp sensor?

 

Make sure the batt terms are clean. You should be getting power from the left batt to the main fuse box. Check the volts with a good DVOM in the fuse block with the key on and make sure it reads batt volts. The next area to check is the ign switch. The next area to check is the bulk head connector at the fire wall. Also check the body grounds. How are the head lights?

 

Yep, the terminals are clean. Unfortunately, I suck with a multi-meter. However, just about everything else is working fine, except the A/C, and the tranny. Headlights are nice and bright.

There is power to the cluster; most of the warning lights come on like they're supposed to, except for the wait-to-start lamp. I pulled the lamps yesterday when I pulled the cluster, and they all looked good. I've traced as much of the wiring as I can, and found no breaks, no loose grounds. The engine will start and run, but there's no tach and no speedo. I'm beginning to wonder if the cluster itself is fragged. When I got an OBD II code scanner hooked to the port in the cab, all that came back was a "Link Error" message. I called a dealership yesterday, and explained what was going on. The first thing that came to their minds was a fried cluster.

It was late when I encountered this problem, but I think I saw a "No Buss" error message flash on the trip/odo. Can't remember 100%, tho. The mech at the dealership said if there was a "No Buss" error, then the cluster is indeed fried. I just wonder, tho, why that would cause problems with the transmission and the manifold preheater. Doesn't make sense.

Since I'm about at the end of my rope, and I can't afford to be buying and replacing sensors that could still be good, I'm taking the truck to a dealership Monday morning for them to run a diagnostic on it. I figure it's better to spend $75 on a diagnostic to tell me what's wrong than to start spending money on replacing sensors which may or may not be bad.

Thanks for the help and the suggestions! I'll keep y'all posted.

 

Still sounds like a ground problem somewhere. Check the ground at the alt field terms. Check the ground for the fender to batt on the left side. Could have a broken wire or corrosion. If the cluster has failed it is probably from voltage spikes. What is your charging volts? Have your alternator tested too. Good luck.

 

Sure sounds like a bad ground or a short somewhere. And that's the problem...there are a lot of "somewhere's" is the system.

 

If it is a bad ground somewhere, I'll be happy as can be! That is, of course, if the cluster isn't fried.

 

Sounds like the cluster has lost coms. with the network mine did this after i installed a new VP44 , have you replaced anything lately?

 

I haven't replace anything electrical. I've replaced a couple of hardware items (valve cover gaskets, new tensioner pulley). I couldn't get the truck to the dealership today, but I'll take it in tomorrow.

I had had a couple of minor glitches in the electrical system earlier ... I'd turn on the mirror defrosters, and the blower would cut out. As soon as the defrosters shut down, the blower came back on. With the cluster dead, the defrosters and blower now work fine. I hadn't thought about them for a while, since here in South Texas we don't need the defrosters much. I supposed I should pull the HVAC switches and check them, since the A/C is no longer engaging.

Thanks for the tip, and the reminder!

 

I found a link ... Panel Test ... which tells how to go through a diagnostic for a 1998+ Ram Instrument Panel Test. I ran the test, recorded the codes, and what lamps didn't light.


The codes I got:

920
921
999 -- no error message followed this, though.

During the lamp test, the Wait-to-Start lamp stayed off, and there was no O/D lamp.

The seatbelt lamp stayed on.

Codes 920/921 both relate to vehicle speed. 920 is no vehicle speed message from the PCM. 921 is no distance pulse from the PCM. 999 is just a general error code, "an error has been deiscovered."

The gauge actuator test functioned normally; all guages went through their calibration settings just fine. However, when I power up the system, the only guage that shows any sign of life is oil pressure ... it goes from powered off resting to the "0" pressure reading mark.

Now, I'm wondering ... could a faulty ESS be the root of this problem? Would replacing the sensor get things back to working properly? My funds are kind of limited, especially since it's the holdiay season. I don't want to spend money replacing things if they aren't bad. The dealer quoted me a ballpark figure of $700 for a new gauge cluster, and that just seems ridiculous to me.

How can I check to see if the sensor is bad? I suck with a multi-meter, but I can figure it out if I need to use one.

Fortunately, I have another vehicle, but the Ram was my daily driver.

Thoughts? Opinions?

 

Just a thought, could be a bad connection at the pcm. A lot of the signals to the dash cluster come from there. Read repair manual: saids to verify signals from pcm with drb scan tool, if signals are there then replace instrument cluster.

 

Well, a buddy of mine suggested doing a comp reset. So, tomorrow, I'm going to diconnect the batteries for about an hour (just to be sure), and try again. I'll let y'all know what happens.

 

Sorry it took me a while to get back to this. While my truck is down, I'm driving my 1969 GTO, which has its own issues, but at least those I can fix.

I tried the PCM reset; no effect. So, I limped it over to a dealership last Tuesday. Of course, there's only one qualified mechanic available, so he's backed up on the workload.

The frustrating thing in this is that I checked every fuse and relay, every ground I could get to, and I couldn't find anything wrong. Granted, when it comes to tracking down electrical issues in modern vehicles, I'm not the best in the world. I could well have missed something. At least with my GTO, I can track down and repair any electrical problems in about half a day (ignition/starter issues ... fixed). At any rate, I will let y'all know what the dealership does, when they get around to fixing the thing.

 

Any item that is on the bus (communication system) can have a prob causing what you are experiencing. Sometimes you can find the culprit right away, sometimes it takes most the day. Good thing is that it is acting up all the time and not just when it wants to. I've seen bad ctms, bad overhead modules, airbag modules, and a mirad of other things to cause the cluster to go dead. Sometimes it's the cluster itself.