dash malfunction

[csp]

I have a 95 dynasty. When I turn on the key the dash does not always get power. The engine will start and run but the guages do not move or work. It does not do it everytime and it has lost power to the dash going down the road. I can sometimes turn the key off then on and it will work and other times have to turn it off and on multiple times to get it to work. Has any one had this problem or know what I need to do to fix it.
Thank you
Chris

[sc3283]

Chris, a ground problem comes to mind. My 96 Dynasty diagram shows a common ground to all gauges. The gound gets its ground on a grounding strip on the frt firewall

[jimkate]

Chris,

As a fellow 95 Dynasty owner, I can share this.

The dashboard electrical is all grounded to a bus bar that's fastened on the front metal firewall. The ground connections all need to be cleaned and tightened.

To add insult to injury, the ground wire from the bus bar to the metal firewall is a gauge or two too small, so even when all connections are good, the ground function is barely minimal.

I solved this after making sure all connections were clean and tight this way. I added three or four ground wires directly from the headlight switch, and several of the gauges, and attached those ground wires directly to the metal firewall.

After doing that, my headlights are bright, my dashlights are bright, and all electrical functions as it should.

My one word of caution. To do this, you must take all the screws out of the dash and pull the dash back. Do this very carefully, as the dash is EXTREMELY brittle and very easy to crack, especially around the screw holes.

[walt2137]

Jim and others you might want to change the dash screws out as they are the main cause of the cracks in our dash, the info below is what we have found that does a good job most of the guys used the 3/4 but I like the 1".
The box says Au-Ve-Co Products, or Auto-Vehicle Products. The screws are
#0162744, or #12215, Phillips flat top washer hd. tapping screws. They
measure #8 x 3/4 inch and are black screws , or # 8x 1 ” 0162745 is the one I used on my dash

[Mike & Nancy]

Walt......Where do you purchase these screws?

[jimkate]

Walt,

Thanks for that info, although it's too late for my dash.

Most of the screw holes in my dash have cracks. The screws have already been changed with big rubber backed steel washers.

I guess because of age, and the amount of cracks in it, the dash has become so fragile that every time I have to remove the screws and pull the dash back, I lose a little bit more of the dash.

The last time I opened the dash, when I grabbed the top left corner of it, a two inch piece disintegrated in my hand. Now there's almost nothing left of the dash to hold the battery boost switch in place. Looks terrible.

I'd replace the dash in a heartbeat if one was available. Been thinking of replacing some of it with wood.

[walt2137]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike & Nancy Walt......Where do you purchase these screws?

I got my screws from Fastenal but any bolt and screw dealer can get them.

[tylerdmoore]

Chris, try these guys for your dash. They have quite a few of the older ones in stock.

Northwest RV Supply: DASH ACCESSORIES

[walt2137]

Jim I replaced the dash on the left of the driver with aluminum I think it was 1/8 inch and had it anodize black it worked out real good and dont have to worry about it cracking, another place is NorthWest RV or Rex has a lot of info in his part file on Monacoer and here is a link to one site.
Home Page

[JimM68]

These guys are well known and respected in collector car circles Welcome To Just Dashes
I don't know if they can or would handle anything as big as an RV dash, but they do amazing things with nasty old padded dashes from old cars.

[pipedream2]

Chris
There is a fuse strip in the front run bay (under the drivers seat) that is marked "ignition" that is fed power when the key is turned to on or run through a solenoid .Check outside for power to this strip when the key is turned on.if no power check power to the solenoid (there are two...one for ignition and one for accessory in the top left hand side) The small terminal wires on both come from the ignition switch and are grounded locally in the bay.......the solenoids are known to fail over time
These supply power to all your dash panel

[RUNDLC]

Although I don't have a dynasty I still have issues with my dash too. My Nav gauges fluctuate quite a bit and sometime they don't move at all. Water temp, is the worst, fuel does move and will look to be correct and then other times it's off too. My dash is another issue as well as others, screw holes are mostly cracked too, my gauges are behind the plexi or whatever they used. I was thinking of how all of the factory ones could be changed out to something generic but ia m sure that would run into more than a few bucks, has anyone done anything like this with success??

I will check for the ground issues. I do have one receipt from the p.o. from Sacramento Truck Repair that states "can't find any wiring issues with non-functioning gauges" I am not sure just how far they looked into this repair however.

I am going to start a to-do list SIGH I am sure it will get long fast!


Looking at the Northwest site makes me wish SOMEONE had older H.R. parts!

[PyrateSilly]

We have a '93 Signature. We had ghost problems with the dash gauges and other electrical stuff too. Other than going thru the coach to retighten all grounds we found 2 things that seemed to cause lots of ghost stuff.
1 - Found 2 purple wires in the bottom bay where the inv/charger and other electrical stuff is at that were not connecting all the time. Just made sure that they were connected correctly.
2 - The Voltage Regulator would not stay plugged in. Temp fix was to zip tie it together so we could finish the holiday trip