P38A Earth Points.

Hi All,
I need your help again please. Can any of you tell me where the earth points for the fuel gauge, temperature gauge, speedo, rev gauge and HVAC are please as I think that I may have a bad connection. The car has been working well for the last month but I parked it forward on my drive which slopes down toward the house on Saturday and now I've got nothing on any of the instruments. Usually I reverse onto the drive but her indoors wanted to go somewhere and it makes it easier for her to get in if I park forwards. I should say that we had quite a bit of rain last week and some could have got in somewhere it shouldn't.

I would be checking round the becm area for damp or it may just be the conector in the back of the instrument cluster.

brianp38dse said:

I would be checking round the becm area for damp or it may just be the conector in the back of the instrument cluster.

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RAVE says that if vehicle has SRS fitted I should disconnect the battery first. Is this relly necessary?

Would be wise you dont want a face full of air bag, better safe than sorry.

Just thinking about it i seam to remember the plugs for the clocks are at the front so may just be remove dash binacle.

brianp38dse said:

Just thinking about it i seam to remember the plugs for the clocks are at the front so may just be remove dash binacle.

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Yes there are two plugs one each side. The backlight to the display works fine but none of the little warning lights SRS, etc, work, and neither of the gauges, tacho nor speedo work.

swac said:

Yes there are two plugs one each side. The backlight to the display works fine but none of the little warning lights SRS, etc, work, and neither of the gauges, tacho nor speedo work.

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I take it you have checked the fuses? IIRC its fuse1 drivers seat fuse box.

There’s earths alongside the seat also, can get crudded up.

I checked the earth point last night in the drivers side footwell behind the kick panel. It looked okay but I loosened the M6 nut anyway and gave the three wires a quick clean tightened it up again and everything was working. While I had the car under cover I thought that I'd check the sunroof drain tubes, ar first I couldn't find then because some foam which goes inside the roof behind the panel seam had fallen down and was obscuring them (I can't imagine what this foam does), I pushed some flexible wire down there but I can't tell if they were blocked or not as it was raining when I put the car under cover. What I don't understand though is is the drain tubes were blocked how the water could end up in the footwells, it seemed to be leaking in the vicinity of the A post and lower kick panel on both sides.

Pollen filter housing ? The screws at the bottom need a good load of sealant around them and draught excluder seems to work on the top cover.

tomcat59alan said:

Pollen filter housing ? The screws at the bottom need a good load of sealant around them and draught excluder seems to work on the top cover.

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Alan, I took the pollen filters out and had a look inside, they are bone dry.

swac said:

Alan, I took the pollen filters out and had a look inside, they are bone dry.

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When was the last time you cleared the a/c drains? access heighton suspension, axle stands,slide underneath and slide your hand up between the bellhousing and the body and you will feel two rubber "valves" ,one each side.give them a squeeze and hopefully get an arm full of crappy water.

Hate to say it ,but the windscreen bonding can fail .Water then runs down the back of the a pillar plastics end up in the wiring behind the kick panel ect ,let the games begin

dubbleRR said:

Hate to say it ,but the windscreen bonding can fail .Water then runs down the back of the a pillar plastics end up in the wiring behind the kick panel ect ,let the games begin

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Oh dear, I thinks that's what may well be happening.

Actually the cars been sitting outside all day in the rain and I've put cardboard down in both footwells so I can easy see any water drops and I can't see any yet.
Thing is I find it hard to comprehend that the water could have been coming from the sunroof drain pipes?

I would gaffa tape up every available entry point. Can then remove them one by one until it comes back so you know where it is.

RangeRoller dt said:

I would gaffa tape up every available entry point.

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Thats going to be a lot of tape ,,,,by the time hes finished he wont get in

Have you checked the drains beside the pollen filters? If your foam has gone astray for the grill beneath the windscreen it could be loaded with leaves. In the far corner of each side there is a drain that runs down behind the wings. These block up over time and can cause water Ingress into the foot wells. Remove the plastics from each foot well beneath the dash and see where the drips come from.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Although I don’t understand how or why it would appear that the front drain tubes from the sunroof must’ve been blocked, because after I pushed about 8 feet of flexible wire down them last night the truck is dry despite all the rain we’ve had today. And all the instruments are working again, I have had the heaters set to 28C and directed to my feet.

swac said:

Thanks for all the advice guys. Although I don’t understand how or why it would appear that the front drain tubes from the sunroof must’ve been blocked, because after I pushed about 8 feet of flexible wire down them last night the truck is dry despite all the rain we’ve had today. And all the instruments are working again, I have had the heaters set to 28C and directed to my feet.

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Fingers crossed you've solved the mystery Holmes!