94 Chimaera Dead Dash Gauges

[NJ94Chim]

Greetings all.

An electrical gremlin has taken root in my 94 Chimaera 400.

Before the gremlin arrived, the car had been starting/running fine, all electrics operating as expected.

Horn hadalways sounded sort of plaintive so I went to test it as a first step before sorting. With the ignition in "run", engine not running, immobilser not messed with, I pressed the horn button. Horn sounded for a half sec or so, then died out.

So, I stuck in the immob key and started the engine. Engine started up just the same as before the horn died and idled fine.

But now, with the engine idling, none of the dash instruments will come alive - fuel gauge, oil press gauge, temp gauge are all dead. Turn signals and headlights no longer work, horn is still dead. The central door unlock knob still works the doors OK. Hazard flashers still work.

All the fuses are good.

I have the SH bible, and some other schematics/diagrams from around the web, but am flummoxed as to how to work this out. (SH diagram shows "Block C", "Block G", "Block I", "Block K", "Dashboard", but no info on what these connection points go to.

Is this a relay problem - if so which one?

Does anyone know of a set of electrical diagrams for a Chim that show the electr aspects that are missing from the SH diagram?

Thanks......

[Harvy500]

I had the same on my Griffith.
What caused my car to kill the dials?!
Believe it or not, it was the boot release solenoid. It was shorting out and blew a fuse.
Are you 100% sure all the fuses in the foot well are good?
Obviously I fitted a new boot release solenoid (and new striker catch as mine was worn to the point only a darn good slam would close the boot) and changed the fuse.
I changed Fuse 9 for a brand new one. 10amp (dashboard ignition feed).
I was told the boot release had its own fuse. Not true. If it did, why did it blow the dash lights fuse.
If I was you, I'd check my boot release and certainly just swap out fuse 9..
That's the right one on my Griffith 500. I'm assuming your fusebox must be the same if not very similar.

[Zeb74]

You can also check the earth between your gauges and the battery

[Byker28i]

Would the big fuse cause strange issues if it blows? It does on the Cerbera

[Goaty Bill 2]

Byker28i said:

Would the big fuse cause strange issues if it blows? It does on the Cerbera

Not in my experience. YMMV
Had the 'big' fuse (the one on the frame?) blow once and all that happened was the alternator stopped charging and the battery went dead.
A lot of time and money wasted for a 98p part. (apparently Mole Valley had been replacing mine regularly, unbeknown to me, for years and it was only when I foolishly skipped a few visits to them that it expired)
(97 Chimaera 500)

[Belle427]

Id be inclined to check the grounds first especially the ones on the transmission tunnel, a quick search will tell you their location.
Dont overlook the battery connections too but the grounds are a common issue.