Just a little preface, I just bought my 00 XJ Sport a month ago. Had to fix a couple of problems to get it on the road and running and I love 'er.

About two weeks ago my girlfriend borrowed her and she said she was on the highway the speed gauge just drifted down to zero. I didnt pay much attention to it until today.

About a half hour ago I was driving her home and suddenly I noticed my check key light (don't know the proper name) on, and the yellow engine light, and my odometer said "NO bUS". Was kinda freaking mentally, but kept on driving. Looked back down like 5 mins later, odometer is blank, and ALL of my gauges (oil pressure, speed, RPM, etc) are all sitting at zero, and all lights off. Turn signals still display up there, but that was it.

Any idea was this could be? My first two thoughts are wiring and heat, but I don't know cars at all.

I'll check back in later and let you all know if the problem has disappeared again. Thanks in advance.

 

This is not an uncommon problem. Whenever you see the NO BUS and gauge issues and the engine continues to run, the problem is usually found with the "dash cluster".

The first thing to try is to disassemble the cluster, clean the connectors with electrical contact cleaner (widely available), verify contacts in the connectors are in good shape, add a generous dab of dielectric grease and reconnect. Verify good grounding.

Search and you will probably be able to find a procedure.

 

could also press on the cluster for a short term fix

 

My 98 xj is doing the same thing latley.

 

My XJ does this occasionally. I just smack the instrument cluster like the Fonz and it works LOL. I'll get to opening it up and cleaning the contacts at some point. But til then... "ayyyyy"

 

Thank you tjwalker. Looked up cleaning my dash cluster and finally got around to doing it. No more problems! (for now). +1 rep

 

mine does this time to time. A nice slap on the top of the guage cluster fixes mine every time..

 

My 2000 did the same thing, and I tried cleaning the connectors/pins behind it. The "fix" would only last for a short while before they all began zeroing out and eventually I'd see "No bus" (which is accurate, it isnt one.)

Anyway, I eventually fixed it permanently (hope I dont regret this). Its been over a year with no problems.

I removed the cluster for the dozenth time, and using needle nose pliers to give every single pin a slight, gentle twist so they would maintain their contact better. I think whatever metal was used in the connectors may be soft and over time looses its "grip" on the mating connector.

HTH, YMMV, and don't blame me if you twist too hard and snap off pins, ruining everything forever.

 

It can be bad ground wire to body.
Next time:
write down each gauge/light, which don't work. They can have common fuse or ground.

 

The problem is the connectors going into the cluster. Clean both sides with a spray electrical contact cleaner, reassemble with dialectric grease, problem solved. Takes 20 minutes.