My instrument panel goes dead and the brake light pops on - at will. While it is off, no mileage is added to my odometer. The turn signals will light up and the break light stays on (the brake is not on) but all else is dark. It will turn on when it feels like it - not necessarily when I go over a bump or any discernable event. Sometimes it will turn on but the fuel tank indicator wll still not work and the odometer will be all 8's.

Any ideas??????

 

I probably should have said that I have a 2001 Honda Civic.

 

girl i dunno about this. its really weird. i'm thinkin a bad ground wire. but where?!? anyone?

 

Maybe try to pull the guage cluster out. There might be a connector that is loose. Loose ground wire sounds like a very possible cause. If you have the service manual, you can check out how the guage cluster goes together and where the ground wire is and where other wires are.

 

wile you have the gauge cluster out, get a voltmeter and test the ground and the power wire

 

yep sound's like a bad connection in one of the harness plugs on the back of the inst. cluster.
lots of times a pin backs out of the plug or sometimes the plastic circuit board on the back of the cluster gets bent and doesnt make good contact with the plug. the strange thing is that it doesnt record milage when it's out because in most OBD cars the speed sensor signal goes to the ECU as well as the cluster. the ECU stores the milage so people cant turn it back. lol it also uses the speed sensor signal for other stuff like shifting for an automatic trans. i'm not sure on an 01 civic,but maybe in your's, the seed signal goes through the cluster and then to the computor.

 

You will have to have a diagnostic test run at a garage......too many variables to hunt for. Ground wire is a good bet but there are more than one .