Pontiac Repair: Gauges dont work on 97 grand am, communication issue, ground connections

Question
Hey Todd,

I recently had the timing chain off my 97 Grand Am (4 cyl) and when I put it all back together none of the needle gauges and several of the idiot lights are on constantly(low coolant, oil, temp light, ets, brake) even though the status of those items is fine.  The gauges were working fine before I did the work and I've tripled checked that I've reconnected every connector, I definitely haven't missed any.  I've checked every fuse in the passenger compartment and under the hood and they're all fine.  I cleaned the battery terminals and all the ground connections that I could find.  (2 near the battery, 1 on the engine, 1 under the driver wiper).  I also tried replacing the ignition switch and that didn't work.  I was considering replacing the instrument cluster, but because the idiot lights are staying lit, I don't think that's the problem.  I'm at loss here do you have any ideas what this could be?  Any help would definitely be appreciated.  Thank you.

Mike

Answer
Hi Mike:

I think you have either a communication issue between the engine computer and the IPC or an bad IPC. Juat a quick thing to check make sure this car Doesn't have a water leak. feel around the carpet under the right front seat. If the carpet is wet or damp The AIR BAG module may be water logged that is on the same communication ckt that the abs/engine and IPC use. Just a hunch. If that is the case DO NOT mess around with this the air bag can go off by them slef! Take it to a shop and have the issue repaied by qualified technicians. On the other hand you just may have a bad IPC that may have been spiked when you reconnected the car battery especially if the key was on when the battery was reconnected or you have a battery charger on this. The root of it is the IPC is either not getting the right communication to it or it's module inside the IPC is bad. Good luck :)