Instruments don't work and strange ticking noise
 

A few weeks ago my instrument panel quit working. After asking here on the board, the advice givent o me was to clean the grounds. Well lo and behold, right afterwards- before I got around to cleaning the grounds- the instruments started working again. The grounds are still probably dirty, and I will have to clean them eventually.

Now, however, the instrument panel has gone back to its old ways and is refusing to work again. The panel is dead about 80 percent of the time, and when it does decide to work, there is an odd ticking/rattling sound coming from behind the glove box assembly. The noise seems to be originating from a pair of pipes which belong to the a/c system, although I could be wrong here (for what its worth, I never use a/c, as the system has been non-functional ever since I bought the car 2 years ago). Any ideas on what's up with my car?

Check your relays, they can often tick when they're buggered. Mine are located just behind the glove box in the engine bay. I don't know if its the same for LHD cars, but if it is, thats probably a good place to start...

Thanks, I will look into that. Our relays on the US cars are located in the same position as your though. Unless my ears are deceiving me, I don't think that is the problem. Oh, and this morning, I drove the car and everything was perfect- no ticking, instruments worked, everythign fine. Go figure. I wonder how long it will stay this way. :)

Isn't that "clicking" coming from the climate control?

That lil' hole next to the cigarette lighter on my car clicks like a bugger when I change my heat settings. Sounds like it's coming from the glovebox.

944S Boyeee

Porsches immobiliser thats fitted to many 944s makes a clicking noise quite often when you have the keys in but the engine off. If thats faulty maybe it thinks the engine's off and is clicking, about every thirty seconds mine clicks...

Porsches immobiliser? What's that?

944S Boyeee

I think the immobilizer is part of the alarm system. Prevents the car from running when the alarm ahs been triggered. Mine is clicking non-stop, not every 30 seconds, so that can't be it. And for the life of me, I can't quite figure out what the ticking has to do with the instruments functioning. Hehe, this is interesting.

I had a similar problem. I don't know if it's the immobilizer but it seemed to me that the sound was coming from the cruise control. As I heard the clicking sound, I could see the cable coming from the cruise control making the movements of the click. I have no idea what it means or why it does it. Try opening the hood and having someone else turn the key and watch for it.

I definitely think so. just recently I've had the same thing start to happen on my '87 '51. gonna do some digging and let you know what I find.

its a bomb run

hey seabolt. fix your sunroof! :D