Celica Forums General Discussion Interior Instrument Cluster and AC not working

I have an issue where the instrument cluster (tach, spedo, fuel, temp, door open indicator, etc) and AC stop working. It only happens under the following conditions and can be reproduced easily. All fuses have been check and are OK.

1.No Gauges
2.Remove and replace Multi-Fuse 20 (which is new and good)
3.Gauges and AC work
4.Drive car or start etc. and everything works fine
5.Power off car for exactly 1 min. or more with doors closed
6.Start car and no gauges or AC again
7.If wait less than 1 min. (tested 30 sec. to 59 sec. ) to restart the car and all gauges and AC continue to work fine

Looking for suggestions on where to start diagnosing. TY

Was anyone ever able to help you with resolving? I am having the same identical problem.

2003 Toyota Celica...need help. Thinking I might need a relay diagram as my Instrument Cluster and AC not working. I can disconnect the battery cable and reconnect it, then the dash will light, if I restart the car within under a minute, everything stays on. If I wait a while and restart the car,everything goes dark. My A/C wont work or the light doesn't come on.

While the instrument cluster (tach, spedo, fuel, temp, door open indicator, etc) and AC stop working, I don't believe it's the cluster itself as it comes back on when I try the above. It is not a fuse.

No Gauges - everything on instrument panel dark
If I remove and replace Battery Cable the Gauges & AC light up and work, I can drive the car and all is ok.
Power off car for exactly 1 min. or more with doors closed, start car & no guages or AC again
If wait less than 1 min. (tested 30 sec. to 59 sec. ) to restart the car and all gauges and AC continue to work fine

Any ideas what the cause might be? Any suggestions on where to start diagnosing.

Your help is very much appreciated, thanks!

A few questions and a few basic steps to help locate your problem.

--

Have you recently replaced your stereo or had electrical work done on your vehicle where the gauge cluster was removed for any reason? Check that all connections are firmly pushed in and are not lose. Also confirm that no wiring was "clipped" between the panels. You may be shorting a cord. If you recently had some electrical work done by a 3rd party (or a Toyota repair center) confirm that they did not accidentally "clip" an electrical line while putting your interior back together.

--

Can you reproduce this problem every time when the weather is hot? How about when it is cold? You may have a fuse that is old or partially broken, where the electrical connection is "fair" after its been sitting for a while, but then goes "bad" after a bit of current has gone through it. I know this sounds impossible, but at this point, its just a step in troubleshooting.

1) have a quick skim through this page:
https://celicahobby.com/forums/ubbt...e-room-and-center-junction-diagrams.html

2) Pull and replace the [interior] Center Junction Block Fuses # 12 and 19, 20, 21, 22 with known good fuses. Fuse # 22 is the most likely cause, if your issue is fuse-related.

--

Have a quick look through this link:
https://celicahobby.com/forums/ubbt...-dont-work-are-they-fried.html#Post86523

Nothing yet and I have replaced the body ECU and gauge cluster and the problem still exists. I am continuing to trace and troubleshoot, but no luck yet.

Thanks for the update. I'm continuing to troubleshoot and experiment. I'd like to fix it myself, if possible. If I find anything out, I'll let you know.
Being female, I really don't want to go to the dealer... they are, unfortunately, my very last resort.

I have checked all my connections, fuses, relays modules. Everything is plugged in firmly.
I have not had any stereo or electrical work done recently. I bought the car brand new in 2003 and the only work I had done was in 2006 when a squirrel was living in my engine compartment and chewed up my AC wiring. First Toyota bill $500. AS mentioned, the squirrel was living there, so he did it again and second bill (within a two week period) was $300. That was years ago and everything has worked fine up until now.

I did have an issue when weather was extremely hot here in CA (over 105 degrees) engine would chug and strain when starting. I would put it into gear quickly for the engine to start. That problem resolved itself when the weather cooled. The weather now is in the 50's, and only now am I experiencing the issue.

The check engine light had come on, but I reset it.

I LOVE my car but can't drive it without a tach, speedo, gas gauge or headlights (have to turn them on manually to get them to work).

I appreciate your time , suggestions and attention. Thank you.

Have you had any of your friends from your husband's car group (CorvettesLimited.org) assist you with the electrical issues? It seems that they would be the very most helpful to you, as they are right there with your vehicle. They can see whats happening when you reproduce the issue for them. Many classic Corvette owners are also very knowledgeable people. AND, you know them, they know you.

https://celicahobby.com/forums/ubbt...uster-and-ac-not-working.html#Post450952


If you believe you are being treated differently because of your gender, you need to report the technician who is discriminating you, to their supervisors or higher-ups. Both women and men bring their vehicles in for repair. No one is expected to know every mechanical detail and troubleshooting procedure about their vehicle. Especially not in 2016!

Most of the CL members just drive their cars, they don't work on them themselves, unfortunately. They take their cars to be serviced. I've taken basic auto mechanics classes and like to work on my own vehicles. I have posed the question to several friends and both car clubs (Corvettes Limited and Stadt Der Rosen VW car klub). I have friends trying to help but to no avail so far. I figured this forum might be a little more knowledgeable since there's more familiarity with the actual Celica. I'll continue to read, trouble shoot and go through shop manuals to see if I can find anything out. Don't get me wrong, my husband is helping me, but we're both stumped at this point. As far as gender discrimination, I've solved that problem by having my husband take the care in. The bills have been much cheaper with no upsell for a battery, oil changes, tires, tire rotation, coolant flush, hose & belt checks.... I do all that by myself. Thanks again.

I really wish I could give you more information, but electrical issues are quite difficult diagnose if they cannot actively be troubledshooted. ie; in real life. Especially when your issue was caused by an animal living in your engine bay, twice. And it was repaired by two separate technicians over the past decade.

Knowing this, my very best advice to you, would be to bring your car in to a skilled Toyota electrical technician (this doesnt necessarily mean, "a Toyota tech at a dealership"). Explain in detail; The history of your problem; What you are doing to recreate the issue; And what was done in the past to correct it. Then let the tech have fun with your car for the day/week.

Two additional things to note:
1) check your fuses again.
2) pull your your gauge cluster and disconnect both plugs from the back of the cluster. One plug is white and the other is blue.
start your car.
Is it doing the exact same thing as before, or are more features on your dash no longer working.
If it does exactly the same thing, then you may have something shorted in your gauge cluster which is stopping your instruments, center console, climate controls, radio, DRL, dimmer, cabin lighting...etc, from functioning correctly.
--also, check the gauge-dimmer dial is set to MAX ON, and not turned down. Its the dial to the left of your steering wheel.

As linked in my previous post above, skim through Isaac's reply and follow those directions to rule out those possible issues. You may need to spend $300 for a new gauge cluster. Or pull one out from a wrecked Celica at a junk yard (same class are your current one. ie; GT for GT. GTS for GTS)

I only mention this, because you've stated that you had prior electrical work done on your Celica. I have no way of knowing what "fixes" those tech used. And if they were correct, or just band-aids to stop a very specific problem from happening.

Have this issue but headlights also do not work and also the battery won't keep charge all after someone changed the clutch

Finally gave in and took the car to Toyota dealership for service. It's been there about 7 weeks now, with over $2,000 in inventory parts that need to be returned because they tried and tested different things. It should be ready next week so I'm told. I'll keep you posted.

Took it to the dealer...even they were stumped. They finally had to replace the whole instrument cluster (couldn't get a new part so they had to install an old one). We are not electrically knowledgeable, so the dealer was our only choice. They had the car for close to 4 months.

anyone get a answer to this? have the same problem,exactly to a t.

So cabrunet, did that fix it? I'm having identical problem out of no where. Mine seems to have come on a couple times since then while driving and wrked for a couple trips after then..dead. it's funny all I gotta do is open the door and I know since the red light for a door being open doesn't illuminate... besides all that not working my reverse beep doesn't sound either, as well as my DTR lights aren't working.


I used to work for toyota so I'm hoping to get some grace rather then rack up a bill. I can get a cluster on ebay for like 100 tops. Mine is 412 with employees discount through toyota. But want to see how likley just that part fixes it all

Hillzer, before you replace your old cluster with the fried terminal, have a quick look at this post:
https://celicahobby.com/forums/ubbt...-dont-work-are-they-fried.html#Post86523

Its about jumping the connector, to bypass the RADIO DIMMER (IIRC) that is burnt (shorted) within your gauge cluster; preventing the entire console, radio, and gauge cluster to light up. Once the two wires within the images are connected, everything will work again, except obviously, being able to dim the radio. And everything else is still protected by the described fuse.

Thanks caffeinekid, but is that my problem? That is directly what's causing this craziness?

Any answers? I’m having the same problems. I must disconnect and reconnect the battery to get the dash and AC to work.

Hi all. I am new here and this is my first post! ...and i face exactly the same issue as "mm68" explained it when starting the thread. I own a M/T GT-S, year 2000. Everything started 2 days ago when I realized t.he passenger's door was left open all night long. And then I 've got a replication of mm68's issue!

I was wondering if you guys found what the problem was. As I understand from "Cabrunet", replacing the instrument cluster fixes everything?

Hey Stip. Did you figure out what the problem was? I have the same problem.

Hello,

I Have the same issue.
It was after ma car ran out of battery.

Replacing the instrument cluster fixed my problem...for a while. All lights still function;however, I'm back to having intermittent A/C. The AC will come on and then start flashing and blow warm air. If I shut it off and turn it back on, it works again for a while. It's NOT the relay because I've replaced it a few times...problem persists. I can d/c the battery but when reconnected the problem resurfaces eventually.

I love the car and hate to part with it. The check engine light is now on as well as the air bag idiot light.

I guess I'll just drive it til it dies and leaves me on the side of the road somewhere. Then I'll junk it for $150 bucks.

Hello Everybody,

It is a hard stuff.
I replace the fuse of 7.5 still nothing.

When I unplug the battery and put it back in again.
I get back on the cluster light ac and so on.
But as soon as i shut down the vehicule close the doors wait a bit, I have the same issue again.

I am lost with that diagnostic.
Anybody understand what is happening ?
If you can please help me into that.

As the fuses are fine, it's not coming from fuses.
The cluster still work after unpluging and puging the battery again, so the connection didn't fried.
Maybe it a relay that cut the signal a bit later the battery in pluged.

By the way my issue happened just after I ran out of battery.
The cluster was doing shit. the speedometer was going up while the car was parked.
Then I recherged the car by cable, it was fine.
When I start the car again few days later, now cluster, no AC, no Rear Gear Bip.

...

Thanks in advance,

Joé

Hello,

As temporary solution I can pull both fusses out and put it back in. It gonna work.
Or I can pul the first 7.5 fuse and I have my IP working.

But no central closing system then.

If someone get it fixed please reply.

Because I saw that even changing the gage is not the final solution...

Thank you in advance.
I hope that I could help a bit.

Thanks for yor reply Cabrunet,

I love that car too !
I hope we'll find a solution.
I really want to keep that car to show it to my famill later when I'll be old.
When every one have an electric one ahah

It's crazy that so much people have the same isssue and that even Toyota garage it self cannot figure it out.
I guess by the time, we'll find out.

Hi, I'm a gts owner from Indonesia which is very rare car & the part are hard to find
I've exactly the same problem with my gts,
Anyone can help find for this problem?

I have found the problem for the A/c , gauges and dash not working. There is a relay in the inside of the car fuse box that's call IG-1 relay. On the fuse box diagram by the shift, it is label relay B. Glad to be able to help.

Having recently dealt with this, I wanted to provide my experience. For those of you looking for a quick answer, my solution was to repair/replace the instrument cluster.

For those of you wanting some detail, I did the following...

1. Replaced fuses 20 & 22. If I pulled the fuse out and put it back in, it would work again.*
2. Replaced IG1 Relay. If I pulled the relay out and put it back in, it would work again.*
3. Even tried the wiring trick with the wires going to the instrument cluster from the linked thread as an idea. Did nothing
4. Unplugging and plugging back in the instrument cluster would make it work again.*

*It quite literally took 60sec for it to stop working after the door was closed. Leave door open, no problem. Leave car running, no problem. Turn off close door, get back in and turn ignition in less than 60sec, no problem.

Turn car off, close door and leave for 60sec or more and it will do it.

I went ahead and ordered a used cluster on ebay, got it in, and it worked perfectly fine every time. So clearly the problem was with the cluster. The only problem I had was that the mileage was way off. Wasn't a big fan of that, so I found out there was a place near me that could correct it. In looking I found out they could fix it. I couldn't tell you what they did to fix it, but went ahead and let them and can confirm they fixed it.

The place I went to is a shop in Richmond, Va. They are called Southern Electronics, and their website is quite literally instrumentclusters.com