Hey guys, my instrument cluster is having some problems, so I took it out and opened it up. The blue ribbon cable looks worn and could possibly be the reason for the bad connection, so I went online to try and find one I could buy, but couldn't find one. Does anyone know where I can get one? Or do I need a whole new cluster? The Part Number on it is 53871033-D. It also says Pressac Lucas 42/821
-Any help is appreciated, thanks, Oden

 

The instrument cluster is powered by a couple of fuses in the left heelboard fuse box

One of these fuses requires the relay in the corner of the fuse box to close

You can swap this corner relay with the one on the left engine bay fuse box

The left engine bay fuse box corner relay only controls the car horn

The speedometer is driven by the left rear wheel speed sensor and the sensor face can be cleaned , Caution on sensor removal as can break and expensive

 

A failing ignition coil (or coils) has been known to play havoc with the IP whilst simultaneously failing to trip any misfire code or cause discernible misfires.

 

How do I go about diagnosing the ignition coils to find if there is a bad one (or multiple bad ones)?
-Oden

 

Motorcarman ?

If you tune the radio to a AM station you may hear it increasing with engine RPM

This can also come from a failing diode package ( replaceable item ) in the alternator or the noise suppressor mounted outside the alternator , noise suppressor apparently not found on all X300 examples

In removing a coil you will see cracks on the barrel of the coil

On the surface of the coil wells on the valve cover you will see arcing corrosion

In theory the valve cover is electrically isolated from the engine block by the plastic isolation shouldered bushings on the 13 or so mount bolts around the perimeter but.................

More than one type of electricity can exist on a item ( wire / engine block environment ) at the same time

The car mostly works on DC but unwanted AC ( age creeping in ) as a pollutant effects sytems

One thing to X against this is the large engine block ground strap , dedicated case / shell ground straps on components like the engine ECU ( maybe the instrument cluster ) and specific wire grounds

Someone recently brought up the ground strap on the hood / bonnet to chassis that is not always there but a good general practice ( static buildup pulse discharge )

 

If your coils have the amber/opaque potting material you can sometimes ID a failing coil by removing the coil cover and running the engine in a dark environment. If you see arcing in the opaque material, the coil is failing.

This method won't work on coils with black potting.

Note that lack of arcing does not prove a coil is good.

Cheers
DD

 

Describe the nature of the problem.

In the coil failure scenario the gauge needles will swing crazily and multiple warning lights flash .... like Tokyo at night

Cheers
DD

 

My cluster doesn't read anything. No lights or movement. Actually, the only thing that works is the turning signals.
There is power going to the cluster though.
The previous owner had a remote start installed, but I took it out to see if that was causing the problem. After I took it out, the battery and fuel gauge needles start to shake. Like they were trying to work, but couldn't.
The needles only wiggled back and forth a small amount though.

 

Doesn't sound like the coil-failure cause, but thought I'd mention it b/c your initial post just said it was wonky. As to coil diagnosis, Dark shop running with cover removed is a common method. Although, if your IP was acting like Doug described, I'd take that as confirmation, though it fails to identify which of the 6. For that.....obtain 1 coil believed to be good and swap it in for #1....then keep moving it down the line til the problem is rectified.

 

For what it's worth this tester can be found in the back room of O'reily Auto parts but you have to call around as the tester is not in all stores , they are going away

Take heavy leather gloves as you will probably have to run the test yourself

The trick is the on / off button is on the back of the tester

The adaptor cable is more of the generic version of the many in the test kit and the # 32 comes to mind

Make sure the coil is warm from running to get real world results because warm is where they fail

All my coils passed as a pass / fail on all parameters at 110 K miles


There are many different panel part #s so best to look at yours

Genuine Instrument Display Module-3.2/4.0 Litre (less 6.0 Litre) For Jaguar Xj 1995 - 1997 (from 720125 To 812255) Classic | Jaguar Land Rover Classic Parts





This is a pic of the bottom ( black ) aft ( white ) side

So the 2 ribbon connectors are on the aft high side , hard to get to,, been there

 

The click test of the left heelbord fuse box relay if it does click only test if it is getting the correct command ( in the form of a ground path through the ignition switch ) to close the relay

The relay can still be compromised on the internal power contacts not allowing enough current to pass through to properly power the IC

Swap with the left engine bay fuse box relay or jumper between socket 3 and 5 to directly power the fuse box for fuse 10 , 12 , 14 , 16

use a blade type wire terminal for better connection

 

Hey guys, I got another cluster and found out that it was the circuit board in my old cluster that was causing the issues. The instrument cluster is working great now.
-Oden

 

By the way, just wanted to mention that someone from the forum helped me out and gave me the cluster. Nice to know someone always has your back!
Thanks guys.