Instrument panel turns off?

[harlequin]

heya all , I wonder if anyone can help?

my 2002 car , the instrument panel lighting turns off! the dials all work , as for the stalk controls (indicators, lights etc). On starting in the morning its all fine, green flashing indicators etc , but after a few minutes its as if someone flicks a switch and it goes black! tried looking in PP2000 and no faults can be found , illumination is set to level 15 (100%).

Any ideas?

[steve_earwig]

Does just the lighting go off or do all the indicator lights go off as well? (direction, main beam, battery, handbrake etc.). Anywhere else, like the computer display thingy backlights?

I know one fuse covers the panel but I can't remember how much of it it does...

[harlequin]

Thanks for the reply!

Yes , the indicator arrows , lights (main and dipped) and ofc , the backlights - it just goes black. But the dials all work. They work when started , just turn off.

Have checked in PP2000 and `black dash mode` does nothing and is inactive

[steve_earwig]

No worries, I just wish I could give you some answers. I'm pretty sure we've never seen this problem before,

I checked the diagrams and it's BSI fuse F but it also does the air con and I think you'd notice if that went off too.

I'm not liking this, the instrument panel is MUX, run straight off the BSI, so the BSI tells it what to display and I guess we're loosing data somewhere.

Things to try: Reseat connectors, BSI reset (it's in the knowledge base somewhere), check for damp connectors under the driver's side carpet (creates all sorts of weird issues with multiplex data) -

I'm hoping it isn't a dash fault

[harlequin]

I have done a BSI reset and sadly nothing - it worked a little but then went off again

[GingerMagic]

One more thing to check - what about water ingress in the CD multichanger connection..??

If you have a multichanger in the boot, the connector sometimes get wet, if you have no multichanger then the connector may still be damp and can affect the electrics even if not plumbed in.....

[harlequin]

I think it might be the comms unit related to the steering controls - the front and rear washers are reversed (pull stalk , rear jet operate etc)