Please Help

So the license plate/check control circuit is ok All connectors but one are disconnected and only the basic wiring harness is left and we see still a short to ground. This circuit is feed by the pink/yellow wire which is connected to the pink wire (connector J). The fault is in the wiring harness or in the other circuit.

We checked the other circuit already for a large part but not completely. I think it is necessary to disconnect the instrument cluster connectors one by one. It might be very hard to do but i am afraid there is no other option. If you want to try this then start by the first connector, disconnect it and measure the pink wire (J connector) to ground. If it is still a short then disconnect the second connector and measure, in case of still a short then connector three. That leaves only the basic wiring harness.

If there is still a short then the only cause left is a short in the wiring harness. To find this fault we have to disconnect wires. But that's for later (hope not).
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1. I unfortunately don't know were they are located.
2. A short is 0 ohm (what we have now).

If this is difficult and to avoid unnecessary hassle, there is a way to check if the problem is in the license plate circuit or this circuit. But to perform the check you have to disconnect the pink wire from the pink/yellow wire (the one we removed from connector J). For this you need to cut one of the wires and later reconnect them (solder!). I don't prefer this but if you can manage this... If you disconnected the wires then you can measure which one has 0 ohm to ground. After this you know for sure in which circuit the problem is.

 

Question: was the problem there at once or was it intermittent at first.

 

I think it is best to leave it disconnected for later measurements.

 

Ok, it was the last one, that's Murphys law!

Now you can reconnect everything (including the check panel connectors), except for this last connector. Then measure the pink wire again, it won't be infinite but higher than 1 ohm.

If it's higher than 1 ohm you can put the removed spade (pink and pink/yellow wire) from connector J back in place and connect connector J. After this you can check if all systems are working again except for the odometer/clock and instrument backlight). Tomorrow we can find out what is wrong with the clock/odometer module.

 

Johan you are doing an excellent job thanks for stepping in as there is a difference between US and Euro wiring!

Mondialqves you are are not alone in your adventure we are all supporting the efforts that you are going through!

 

Thanks! We have to find the cause although there is some unexpected intermittent behavior now. There is indeed a difference between the Euro and US diagrams. Unfortunately i only have the Euro version, i tried to find a US version but i did not found any.

Regarding the issue: are all connectors disconnected including the two from the electronic control box in the foot well? Did i understand your clock didn't work before the issue?

And it is incredible how you manage to find all those connectors and disconnecting them in such a fast way.

 

Please disconnect the two connectors of the electronic control box as well! Because this box is a feedthrough for all the lights on the back of the car.

 

Wow, 172 posts so far trying to find this issue, this is great perseverance guys!

I am chasing some gremlins in my indicator panel too.

Could you post a few pics of where the connectors are located since you have it all torn apart? This would be valuable for anyone reading this thread in the future too.

I am specifically looking for where the connection from the panel indicator can be found. I have tried to see it by looking under the dash, but can't see the ends of the wires.

It would be nice to know where it is before I start tearing my dash apart.

Thanks,
Alden