Odd things happening with dashboard

[Avend4d]

Hi, driving home tonight in my wife’s 2005 D4D several things happened but differently each time the ignition was turned off and on again. This included the temp gauge not reading although the engine was hot and had indicated earlier. The passenger seat belt warning came on ( 2 different times ) despite being unoccupied and nothing on the seat. Random warnings on the dash came on but that changed each time the ignition was switched off and then back on again. The fuel guidance info. displayed on the central dash screen was not showing any details ( range / consumption etc.). The car was otherwise running normally. Yesterday the spanner symbol had come on ( indicating a service due I believe ) but this didn’t reappear today, until about 50 miles later, on one of the several ignition turn offs but went off again subsequently. Everything else worked ok such as lights and wipers. Weird!?????

[yossarian247]

Its worth checking the simple things such as the Battery terminals are tight and not excessively corroded, plus the earth straps including the one to the engine are not loose or corroded. Dodgy earths can cause all sorts of weird and wonderful problems with car electrics.

[Gerg]

In addition to the above:-

I had very similar problems in a new-ish Peugeot 406 years ago - one of the first to move to the then-new CANbus wiring.  The gauges, radio settings, and lights started changing/turning off/on completely randomly.  The car ran perfectly otherwise.

In that car, it turned out to be a small amount of water had got into the CD autochanger, which was CANbus attached, but actually fitted in the boot.  That company car had AA cover, so I called them out, as much as anything as a witness - I didn't think anyone would believe what was happening at the Peugeot garage.  The AA man relayed the problem to their technical staff.  Their database had showed they had seen one other identical fault in that car type at that time. 

Some water droplets were evident in the CD changer.  A hair dryer on the removed CD changer for a few minutes, refitted it to the car, it never happened again.

So could be damp in the (dash?) electrics, just maybe???  Any evidence of a water leak somewhere?

[flash22]

Does it happen if you giggle the key, are the cars keys on a bigger bunch of keys ??

[Avend4d]

Thanks guys for the useful info. Had chance to have a look round the car and so far all looked ok. Nothing came up on the fault codes. Haven’t tried the giggling key properly ( made me laugh though ) and only a single key in use, so will try that when next out in the car. The floor of car inside is bone dry so I don’t think water is getting into things that way. Is there any modules about the car that I can check for damp or poor connections? Will keep the post undated and thanks again.