Funky dash gauges.

Mineshaft · 10-31-2009, 06:09 PM

I have a 2000 Diplomat and when I turn on the headlights the temp. gauge suddenly reads about 25 degrees higher and the voltage gauge drops to 12 volts. Turn the lights off and both gauges read correctly. The rest of the gauges have no reaction. Do I possibly have a poor ground to the instrument panel?

Rex · 10-31-2009, 07:43 PM

You have a bad ground. Check where the ground to the instruments comes from. May be on the firewall just above the break. Make sure it is tight. Next the ground goes to one of the instruments and is daisy chained to all the others. One of them is not tight. You will have to pull the dash to check these. Remove all the screws and very carefully pull the dash out at the top for access. On mine the ground wires are all white.

MonacoMama · 10-31-2009, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mineshaft

I have a 2000 Diplomat and when I turn on the headlights the temp. gauge suddenly reads about 25 degrees higher and the voltage gauge drops to 12 volts. Turn the lights off and both gauges read correctly. The rest of the gauges have no reaction. Do I possibly have a poor ground to the instrument panel?

Mineshaft..I just wanted to say welcome to the iRV2 and Monaco Forums!

you will find some great RV owners here who are willing to jump right in with needed information.

We certainly hope you stop in here frequently.

We look forward to reading your posts!
Again..welcome to the forums..please visit & post often.

Rex · 11-01-2009, 06:59 AM

While you have the instrument panel pulled out, check the back of the panel for an engraved number or a sticker with the panel number. Could be something like HR-21 or something like that. If you have a sticker, it should have the manufactures name on it. Also write down the numbers of each instrument. Good to have this information in your file. The panel will crack and brake apart in time. If his happens to you then contact me direct rbdtanasi at yahoo.com and send me the panel number. I may be able to direct you to a company that can offer a replacement. It is not hard to change out the panel, just time consuming.

Pusherpilot · 11-01-2009, 09:51 AM

Mine has a quirk that's been there since it was new. The volt meter and oil pressure gauge fluctuate at the same time in the opposite direction. When the voltmeter jumps up the oil pressure gauge goes down!
Ron

Daveo0o · 11-20-2009, 04:15 PM

I had a '92 Dip that did the same thing. Every guage's reading would change when you turned on the headlights. Turning up the guage backlights would also affect the readings. I never found the loose connection, but I knew it was there.

bshephard · 11-23-2009, 09:38 AM

I'm new here. We had the same problem with our 98 Sig and learned elsewhere that Monaco had undersized the ground wire for this cluster. The remedy was to add additional wires to the gauges at random. Since my voltmeter seemed to be the most suseptible I added one to this gauge. Problem has never recurred.

MonacoMama · 11-23-2009, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bshephard

I'm new here. We had the same problem with our 98 Sig and learned elsewhere that Monaco had undersized the ground wire for this cluster. The remedy was to add additional wires to the gauges at random. Since my voltmeter seemed to be the most suseptible I added one to this gauge. Problem has never recurred.

bshephard...I am going

just to say welcome to the forum! We appreciate it when a new member's first post is so helpful!

Mineshaft · 12-01-2009, 04:58 PM

Thanks for the reply's. I added a 10 gauge ground wire to the dash gauges and my problem was solved. Now my temperature and volt gauges are reading correctly.

Mineshaft

Snowman 1 · 12-01-2009, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mineshaft

Thanks for the reply's. I added a 10 gauge ground wire to the dash gauges and my problem was solved. Now my temperature and volt gauges are reading correctly.

Mineshaft

We recently came back from the Monaco service center in Coburg and that is exactly the fix for this problem. Technician instantly knew what the remedy was and added a 10 gauge ground wire to the dash gauges. Ours would actually trigger the low coolant light also, never could quite understand why we would get a low coolant light and higher temp readings at night and not during the day. One day during a good rainstorm turned on the lights and bingo, temp gauge went high, voltage dropped, low coolant light came on. I can't tell you how many times this coach has been to the stealer with this problem.

On a side note, the Coburg technician also properly adjusted the ride height on the coach after several shops had had their turn at it. Coach rode like a dream on the way home with the recently installed Koni's.

We'll drive the 4 hours to Coburg to get our DP worked on from now on. Thank goodness that service center has reopened.

2000 HR Imperial 38 WDS
350 Cummins w/Air Cleaner & Muffler Upgrade
(8) Koni FSD's
OHTSU Rx109's on steers & Rx128's on drives