No Taco, economy meter, clock or radio working

[e30-wheels]

1985 e30 325i

Started the car today only to find no taco or Economy meter working also radio and clock had also packed up. Checked all fuses and power to fuses all ok, checked wiring loom no power to radio and clock pulled as many connections as i could find to no avail, put another live to radio and clock and they worked spent a further few hours trying to trace the fault and could not find anything, next i removed the the instrument cluster and checked the batteries in the si board these were ok giving 3.25 volts each, i changed the instrument cluster for a known good one still no taco or economy gauge. Have tried to check wiring to the blue and white plugs and the c101 connector but the wiring diagrams i have are different to the car. Any help will be appreciated.

[sweep]

Have you checked the relays in the fuse box?

[Brianmoooore]

Relevant fuse is 21. Have you checked it by looking at it or by changing it?

[e30-wheels]

Have you checked the relays in the fuse box?

Hello Sweep
Yes swapped all of them but i did not think any of them were connected with the instrument panel, clock and radio, plus i have power at the relevant fuses.

[e30-wheels]

Relevant fuse is 21. Have you checked it by looking at it or by changing it?

Yes checked power at the fuse its good and belt and braces change the fuse

[e30-wheels]

Cannot make out why the clock,radio, and instruments should all stop working at the same time , if its a fault in the ecu that would effect the tacho but not the clock and radio

[Brianmoooore]

Clock is a direct feed from fuse 21, involving not many inches of red/green wire.
Shouldn't be difficult to check along its whole length.

[mcspike]

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=262422

If interior lights are also affected that may help.

[e30-wheels]

Clock is a direct feed from fuse 21, involving not many inches of red/green wire.
Shouldn't be difficult to check along its whole length.

Have checked the wire no power but i cannot see it at the fuse box and lose it at the two big white connectors passengers foot well, does it change colour to go into fuse box, it must be broken or a bad connection as i have put a bypass 12v supply spliced into it to work the clock and radio does this wire have anything to do with the instruments.

[e30-wheels]

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=262422

If interior lights are also affected that may help.

Interior lights are all ok. Its a good bit of information and sort of covers all the faults i have. I think thats what i will have to do is check all the plugged connections, i will check out Brians red and green wire first as that seems the easiest, Thanks for finding the information.

[e30-wheels]

Thanks to mcspike i have found the fault, 9 red and green wires that should be spliced together in the loom running along the seal about halfway up the passengers seat are completely corroded and broken, there are also other splices with signs of corrosion that will need attention. Hopefully when i have fixed them all be be ok, Thanks to all for there input.

All wiring repairs now done and every thing works as it should, By the way mcspike, when i exposed the corroded wiring splice i lost the interior lights and boot light. Although the area was dry it had been very wet in the passed before i had all the seals repaired. Looks like a fault waiting to happen as all these cars get older.