So my buddy bought a 2003 3.2 TL Type S. It's a nice car and it runs great. The engine sounds good and pulls very well. Mechanically it seems to be in tip top shape. Electrically... not so much. There are a few problems with it that I need help diagnosing.

1. The Gauge Cluster is going nuts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iOBOU2FlqQ

None of the gauges work, although he did once mention to me that they might work intermittently but after he bought it they haven't worked whatsoever.

He tells me that he bets it's a sensor of some sort although he readily admits he knows absolutely nothing about cars. I think it can't be a sensor. If it were a sensor then the speedometer wouldn't work, or the tach, etc. But not all of the gauges at once.

Just by thinking the gauge cluster through my thought is it has to be either the ECU (which is HIGHLY unlikely because otherwise some more of the car would be on the fritz), the wiring (unlikely because something absolutely catastrophic would have to happen to pinch or otherwise mess up wiring), or the gauge cluster or gauge cluster connections.

So I'm betting that the gauge cluster plug is loose or something similar, but if anyone has any ideas or even thinks that I'm on the right track let me know.

2. The HIDs in the front. Obviously the previous owner had problems with the passenger side HID as he has taken the cover off and didn't put it back on. He also gave my buddy a new bulb for it and told him that he just didn't have time to replace it. Which is bull$h!t because he took the old bulb out then stuck the ballast back on. So, your telling me that you had time to take the old bulb out and put the ballast back on, but you didn't have time to put the new bulb in?

In any case, my buddy tried to get the new bulb in before I got there and probably broke the bulb. He tried to put the ballast on then put the bulb in. In doing so he tells me that he broke a brown wire that went to the tip of the bulb off (I didn't see the bulb and I'm unfamiliar with HIDs so I'm not sure what he's talking about here). But sticking that new bulb in (sans brown wire) it still doesn't work. Any ideas? Should I just get a new bulb and then install it myself and not let him touch it?

Thanks for your help!

 

The cluster has 3 plugs on it. I doubt its that but the only way to know is to take it out and make sure all are plugged in. My guess at this point would be a Ground or most likely a multiplex (one of the fuse panels) or the cluster itself.

As for the HIDs, the Ballast is mounted to the bottom of the headlight, so it was never removed. There is just a cover and ignitor then bulb. If he broke what he said he did he needs a new bulb. HIDs should ALWAYS be replaced in pairs.

 

So we just got done taking the gauge cluster out and checking the connections and the pins on the cluster.

Everything seemed just fine. All the pins were straight and the connections were nice and tight.

We are using the manual to figure out which fuses to start looking at.

A multiplex.. forgive my newbishness but I'm unfamiliar with that term. Is that one of those fuses in the box that looks like a big box?

In my brief googling of that term that's what it seems to be. How does one tell if those multiplex's are done for?

And yeah, I read him the riot act about not trying to fix something until he reads the directions. Hence the HID mistake.

 

So we bought some new HID bulbs and put them in. The one that worked still works, the one that didn't doesn't work.

And after taking the cluster out and putting it back in, I took notice that a lot of the nuts and bolts were loose holding the cluster in.

Also after putting the cluster back in, it's still screwy, but occasionally a gauge or two will work correctly.

We timed one the temp gauge when it started going nuts and it seems it was on a 30 second timer. Every 30 seconds it would peg, then dip back down after 30 more seconds. Odd.

I'm starting to think it might be a bad ground somewhere that is causing all of this as when we put the cluster back in, we tightened up all the bolts and it seemed to make the cluster a little more happy.

Any ideas? Bad ground sound feasible?

 

yes