***UPDATED: What is causing my dash and radio/climate displays to flicker?

[chris82]

Hello. Getting some weird stuff lately.

This happened before only once about a month ago and it hasn't happened again until yesterday.

So I was driving along at 40-50 and all of a sudden I heard my radio audio cut out and my radio and climate control displays flickered. My brake lights like ABS and E-Brake flashed for a sec on the dash and I heard the 'gong' like something was wrong. Then it would go back to normal. No loss of power or anything else. This happened on and off. Shortly after I saw my MPH needle go from my current speed of 40 down to 0 and then back up to 40 again.

My shop checked the computer and the voltages and everything is fine in that respect. They had suggested that it could be the instrument clusters themselves that might be causing this.

Any ideas here? Anyone have a similar issue? My car has 38000 miles on it right now.


******UPDATE: So I was driving along today. I had my heat set to about 71 degrees, my lights on, and music playing. I went to put my brights on and before I could even let the stalk go back to center position I got the same electrical issues; MPH goes to 0, yellow brake lights flash on dash, the gong noise, then right back to normal and was fine for the rest of the 10 mile trip.

Anymore ideas?

Thanks

[ucsbshawn]

mine has done this a few times, sometimes gauges will all read "0" then come back.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by ucsbshawn

mine has done this a few times, sometimes gauges will all read "0" then come back.

How often does that happen and how many miles are on your car/what year?

Did you ever get it diagnosed?

[Dackelone]

You should check for AC voltage at your battery. Anything more than ~1 ACvolts(not DC!) with the engine running and your alternator is shot. Specifically the rectifier inside the alternator. I would also check for a loose or bad ground at your battery.

[chris82]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

You should check for AC voltage at your battery. Anything more than ~1 ACvolts(not DC!) with the engine running and your alternator is shot. Specifically the rectifier inside the alternator. I would also check for a loose or bad ground at your battery.

Usually I would think it's the alternator as well, but this happens so randomly and infrequently (last time was a month ago), and the shop was unable to provoke it. Wouldn't an alternator problem be more frequent/predictable?

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Chrisar82

Usually I would think it's the alternator as well, but this happens so randomly and infrequently (last time was a month ago), and the shop was unable to provoke it. Wouldn't an alternator problem be more frequent/predictable?

Yea I would think so. But... electronic gremlins are always hard to in point until they fail - so the shop can diagnose the problem.

Have you had anything replaced or worked on recently? In the engine or battery area? Any accidents? Maybe a loose ground cable?

I would still check for stray AC voltage at the battery terminals with the engine running. Like I said anything more than 1AC volt and you have a problem in the charging circuit. You can check this with a simply VOM(volt ohm meter).

Dackel

[chris82]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

Yea I would think so. But... electronic gremlins are always hard to in point until they fail - so the shop can diagnose the problem.

Have you had anything replaced or worked on recently? In the engine or battery area? Any accidents? Maybe a loose ground cable?

I would still check for stray AC voltage at the battery terminals with the engine running. Like I said anything more than 1AC volt and you have a problem in the charging circuit. You can check this with a simply VOM(volt ohm meter).

Dackel

Actually, I took my entire center console off (big piece in between the seats, didn't touch the radio/climate controls) in order to wrap my trim. I may double check the wires that run through there when I have time

EDIT: Well, my shop said they didn't find anything. They ran some sort of diagnostics that checked all the electrical modules in the car and everything checked out. They did say I had something faulty with a brake or abs sensor (I forget what exactly they said) that might have been the reason the brake lights were flashing. Oh well. They basically told me to wait until something really goes wrong before putting any money into anything, and I agree with them!