Okay, so before the LED swap my car ran flawlessly. I performed Wariow3's gauge LED swap with no problems, I've already done my entire center console and Clarion Equalizer so at this point I was damn good at the process. I put the gauges back in the car and first of all the dash lights were on when the headlights were off, and when i turned on the headlights the dash lights (LED's) went out. I had the dimmer switch and everything else plugged in at this point. It was late so I said f*** it, I'll check it tomorrow. On my way to work this morning not only didn't any of my gauges work or light up but my car shut off two separate times... one in a slow turn and I lost power steering which wasn't fun when not expected. I now removed all the LED's and put the standard bulbs back in. When I tested them in the car they light up which the headlights but my gauges still don't work and my CEL is on. wtf?? can I get a little help on this one.

 

Either something is not grounded correctly or a wire is touching something. Retrack your steps and you should be able to find the problem.

 

check fuses.

 

I don't know why, but this light will usually come on after taking your cluster out. It'll go away after awhile.

No clue why, but I know it just does.

 

Thanks, hopefully the CEL will go off after awhile... but I'm still clueless as to why my gauges are functioning. I checked all the fuses and they look fine - is there one in perticular that would cause the gauges not to work. The lights are working but the needles just don't move. All the connections and rear circuit board/mat look really clean. I could except the odds of one gauge breaking somehow but not all 4 of them. is there any way to test the gauges independently of the entire cluster. i know it won't be measuring speed or anything but i just want to see the needle move so i know it isn't the gauge.

 

hmmm, never happened to me before. i literally ripped out my gauges about 30 times and messed w/ everything and not once have i experienced this.
the only thing closest was my gas gauge kept going down and wouldn't work so i just got a new one.

u didn't screw up the needles or anything did you? make sure the plugs are secure and check fuses

 

I barely touched the needles. I know how sensitive the gauges are, but is there anyway to tell if they broke other than them not working in the cluster. Such as needles returning the zero if moved. I noticed they all return to their start point except for the gas gauge when moved. ... I really don't have the cash to get new gauges, i suppose they are hard to find at salvage yards too?

 

yeh, they all return to zero xcept the gas gauge. dunno whats causing the prob. did u use 3mm or 5mm? make sure there not in the way of the needles.
as for the salvage yard, if i were u, i would try callin them up and see if they have any. if they do, go there w/ just ur gauges hooked up, excludin the trim, and ask them if u can see if it works first before u buy it. if it works, buy it and then swap the gauges.

 

a similar thing happened to me, on a different device, when i plugged something in wrong. theres 3 plugs for the gauges, and i dont know if its even possible, but maybe you switched 2 of them by accident?

worth a shot.

 

My car quit two more times on the way to work again.. I'm guessing it is a mere coincidence that it is doing this and the CEL is on since the light swap. I'm going to pull the codes and see what it is. I'm hoping it is the IAC, although it has no warning when it quits. I'm usually just coming up to a stop with my foot on the brake and clutch and all of a sudden i see my warning lights come on and that is the only way i know it quit. I remember the IAC went out on my g/f's Tracer and you could feel the engine idling really rough and you could usually save it by giving it some gas before it quit.
All I hope is that the CEL isn't for the O2 sensor i replaced a month ago... I'd be so pissed.

 

Did you connect the odometer back to the gauge? Your battery will not recharge if it's the odometer isn't connected

 

The bulbs for the gauges light up as well as the light for the odometer, I can switch between the odometer and trip A and B but the miles aren't going up as I drive. I believe I have the odometer plugged in correctly? I slid the ribbon cable into the connector so that the ribbon cable is parallel with the face of the gauges and then snapped the connector closed. Is this right? Would I be able to switch between trips if it wasn't hooked up correctly? If it wasn't connected right would this cause the CEL to come on. When my engine does quit when I'm driving it starts back up immediately when I turn the key which makes me think the battery isn't losing charge. Stupid checker auto won't do a diagnostic on my car after dark... and i get out of work after dark. Stupid rules. By the way thanks for everyones input so far keep it coming.

 

I got my gauges working again! and i did the self-diagnostic check which might I add was a pain the *** trying to squeeze down under the gas pedal. the CEL code was 0104 which was caused by the gauges not working. I found a few of the pings in the harnesses that go into the gauges weren't making a very good contact. after I went through all the connectors it works... now that I know what the problem was I'm going to put the LED's back in. Anyone else have an '99 SE with silver/titanium color gauges. I did notice the LED effect wasn't as prominant as others I've seen, thought it is because of the silver instead of white gauges.