No gauges! What can I do please?

Y

yorkwils

Bought a 99 K11 as a learner car for my son, all was fine for a month and then the gauges packed in. Temp/fuel/speedo all show zero and do nothing.
Before I rip the dash apart and possibly make the situation worse, has anyone seen this before and maybe knows what might be the cause.
I've checked the fuses on the driver side - all ok, everything else is working fine and the car drives as normal. Even the digital mile counter/clock is working.
The gauges themselves are the needle type with fuel on the left and temp on the right. The digital mile counter is just below the speedo.
Is there a relay or a connector or hidden fuse that I may need to find? This is our first Nissan so I have no experience of them at all. I don't even know if the gauges are mechanical or digital. I presume they must have some common electrical supply as they have all stopped at the same time.
Many thanks to anyone who can help me.
Cheers
 
How old is the car? What age?

You won't make anything worse taking the dash apart, it's simply two screws holding the dash pod on, remove that, and then unscrew the dials and check the connections in the back.

Possibly just a loose connection.

Sorry, ignore the above I misread you said it's a 99 K11.

In that case, take the dash pod off, and check the connections behind the dials, they might be loose and sent it a bit crazy. If not, perhaps new dials are requireed?
 
Does the interior light and boot light work??

If they don't check the fuse box inside the car, left hand column, 3rd fuse down (think thats the right one, It's been almost a year since i owned a micra)
 
I had this and it was the bottom relay on the (internal) fusebox set of relays. I just pushed it back and it solved the problem. I then held it in place with a trusty zip tie so hopefully it doesn't happen again
 
Yorkwils

Hey - thanks everyone for such a quick response. I was feeling a bit stupid for getting into this situation but it's really good to know others are so willing to give support.
The fuses all seem ok but SuperUno you mentioned a relay that caused the same fault for you. I know I might seem a bit dumb but where abouts will I find the relay to check? You said it was internal so I guess it must be under the dash somewhere. Perhaps it's near to the fuses on the driver's side or have I misunderstood?
Once again many thanks, I much appreciate your help...
 
If you look at the fuse box, underneath them are the relays, they can be slightly hidden by the dash depending on what angle your looking at them. But they are there!
 
I think the post 98 instrument dials are 100% electronic. So short of ripping out the cluster to check, it seems likely a relay/fuse/connection is at fault.
 
Found the relays. There are four with light blue plastic cases. Three are in a row above the fuses and one is above them. They all seem pretty tight, I gave them all a wiggle with the ignition on but no change.
I'm wondering how susceptible the relays are to damp? The car stands idle for a lot of the time and just before this problem had stood for about three weeks.

Forgot to mention, can't find a boot light but the interior light is working fine
 
Have you took the dials off yet to check? The dials on your Micra only have one plug in total. Check all the wires in that plug aren't loose. Give that a go my friend.
 
I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take the gauges out and have a look. Can't help thinking that it is going to be something else though.
What I really need is a circuit diagram, does anyone have one that they could email?
 
getting the dails out is easy. Two screws for the plastic hood then three screws for the dails. so you could check them...

other then that could be the relay mentioned above is damaged (Rather then loose)
 
Ok - I've done a whole lot of checking which has eliminated a lot of possibilities, here's what I have found:
There are four identical relays above the fuses (all single pole, single throw), by removing each relay in turn various things stop working so I can say with confidence that each relay works.
I have checked the fuses again, and this time I did a continuity test on each one in case there was a hairline crack - all ok.
I have checked the fusable links under the bonnet - all seem ok, I have checked the relays under the bonnet all bar one. Two of them are the same type as the internal ones so I was able to substitute to test - both ok. The third is a black one which is single pole double throw so I will have to test that later (I have a mate with a similar car so I should be able to temporarily swap that relay too to test it).
I checked for broken wires and loose connectors under the bonnet, the only thing that was suspect was a connector that had come loose from it's support and was dangling alarmingly close to the nearside CV joint. It seems ok and I have put it back where it should be.
Now I had no choice but to remove the instrument panel itself. It is the digital type with a single connector as expected. Nothing was loose so no result from that. Although, when I reconnected the instrument panel and turned on the ignition, the fuel gauge went to full (tank is full) and stayed there for about 5 seconds then returned to zero. I can repeat this each time I disconnect and then re-connect the instrument panel. Out of curiosity, I did this and then quickly drove the car to see if the speedo would work too, it did not.
My conclusion is that it must be the instrument panel itself that is at fault (090 B).

Possibly all this detail might be useful if anyone else has a similar problem. I can't see any way of avoiding a replacement panel unless the above information suggests something else to someone - what do you think?
 
You can get one from the scrapyard. Make sure it is a facelift one though, as the pre facelifts have a mechanical speedo.

However, be aware that unless you somehow get one with magically the same mileage, the one you get from the yard will read wrong.

Unless someone know a way of resetting that.
 
Ok, I have managed to test the final relay under the bonnet (the black one - single pole double throw) and it is fine. That was my last possibility for a fault outside the instrument panel, and now I must accept the inevitable. The consensus in the forum also seems to be that another instrument panel is needed.
Found one on ebay - so now the long wait!
Thanks to everyone for your help. More later when it arrives...
 
seems like you know what you are doing, if you can check relays then you could pilot a space shuttle as well, any way don't forget sometimes loose connections especialy the earths can cause problems too, and as for fuses i am glad that you took each one out and checked it with a meter, I had that on my calibra where I totally overlooked a blown fuse and my instrument panel went haywire, later on someone helped me clear the problem by being specific to check the fuse that is specific for the instrument panel on my car, and I must admit I felt silly when it turned out to be the fuse I had failed to notice that it was indeed blown up. good luck any way in your mission.
 
Guess what? The old dashboard gauges started to work before the replacement arrived. I don't know whether to be happy or cry!

It was the fourth time the car was driven yesterday and the gauges just started working whilst driving along. However, it took a little while for them to start working first thing this morning so there is still a fault presumably inside the dash. When the replacement arrives I'll find out for sure.

My guess is that the computer chip won't always start working, particularly when cold.

Food for thought if anyone else experiences the same problem.
 
yorkwils said:
Guess what? The old dashboard gauges started to work before the replacement arrived. I don't know whether to be happy or cry!

It was the fourth time the car was driven yesterday and the gauges just started working whilst driving along. However, it took a little while for them to start working first thing this morning so there is still a fault presumably inside the dash. When the replacement arrives I'll find out for sure.

My guess is that the computer chip won't always start working, particularly when cold.

Food for thought if anyone else experiences the same problem.
Click to expand...
Did you put the new instrument panel in. My k11 has the exact same fault. Driving me mad
 
yorkwils said:
Guess what? The old dashboard gauges started to work before the replacement arrived. I don't know whether to be happy or cry!

It was the fourth time the car was driven yesterday and the gauges just started working whilst driving along. However, it took a little while for them to start working first thing this morning so there is still a fault presumably inside the dash. When the replacement arrives I'll find out for sure.

My guess is that the computer chip won't always start working, particularly when cold.

Food for thought if anyone else experiences the same problem.
Click to expand...
Hello yorkwils!
I have the same exact problem. Please tell me if you got a solution. Was the dashboard? Could you get it fixed?
Cheers,
João
 

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