Re: dashboard whacky-ness

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Brett Dikeman <brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net>
To: quattro@coimbra.ans.net <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
Date: Sunday, July 19, 1998 11:05 PM
Subject: dashboard whacky-ness


>Drove up to NY this weekend to take care of some stuff...3.5-4 hour drive
>or so.  We're between Glens Falls and Lake George when all of the sudden,
>with no prompting..."What the F@#@$!?!?"
>The "inner" areas(closest to the center display) of the tach+speedo, the
>trip computer, and autocheck display go dark/  Highbeam indicator comes on
>dim along with _both_ turn signals.
> [snip]

Brett;

    I had exactly the same symptoms on my '91 200q, even down to the
"dashboard whack" temporary cure. The problem was a bad ground on the
instrument panel printed circuit board. There are two ground blocks on the
board which look like PC jumper blocks. These mate with pins when the
instrument panel is assembled. One of these connections  is the ground
circuit for the inner instrument lights, the high beam indicator, and the
turn signal indicators. A bad connection causes the symptoms you describe.
The whack on the dash temporarily re-establishes the connection. I solved my
problem by building up the pin size with solder. I am planning on going back
in and using Stabilant 22 on all connections.

HTH

Fred Munro
'91 200q  255k km