I recently bought a 98 XJ and the gauge cluster does not work. When I start the vehicle all of the warning lights come on on the dash, but the gauges do not work. When the headlights are on all of the gauges light up but still do not work. I have also noticed that the radio does not work, but when the headlights are on it lights up everything but the clock; and the interior lights don't work. I'm thoroughly confused and have no idea where to even begin.

 

Try tapping in the cover if the guage cluster or on the dash above it. Known issue with those. I've got a 98 that sporadically drops to nothing, tap the dash and its back to normal. There is a dealer fix for that which you may still be able to find the parts.

 

Alright thanks i'll give that a try

 

My 98 just did the same thing last week when we got some really cold weather. I just used my fingers to push the clear plastic lens over the gauges and they all started working again. I probably just need to pull it out and clean the contacts, but it's really easy to just push it in for now if it does it again.

 

I tried pushing on the dash, and tapping on and above it and still nothing.

 

Same exact thing happened to me. Banging on the Dash worked for awhile, but finally stoped bringing them back. tore the dash apart after searching here and cleaded the contacts. Nothing. searched more and found that the Dealer sells a set of replacement connectors you can butt splice inplace of the old ones.... Still Didnt Work. Finally just went to a used parts place bught one for 45 bucks and fixed.... dash sucks taing all apart, still got an extra part or screw....

So work your way down the list from banging to replacing. not much $$ just time.