Dash Lights Coming On-and-Off

[packick]

I don't know if this is coincidental or not, but last Saturday I washed my fairly new GT being careful not to get too much water down the hood vents. Then on Sunday my wife and I started out on a driving vacation. About 20 miles from home the dash lights on the Tach and Speedo went off for a bit, then came back on; then off for a bit, then back on. This went on for an hour or so. Then, all of the dash lights went off, including the center display between the Tach and Speedo. (Note that my headlights were off so these were just the dash running lights.)

When I opened the hood to see what might be happening I noticed that the passenger side hood vent is right above a fuse box. So I am wondering if some water got into the fuse box and shorted out a fuse, although it looked dry in there? When the lights finally came on after the umteenth time, I experimented and dimmed the display to almost nothing. This caused the lights to stay on for a longer period of time but they eventually went off again.

Has anyone else experienced this phenomena?

Update: On the third day, the lights didn't work. But I noticed that when I was cranking the engine the lights worked, and as soon as the engine started the lights went off. Also, when I pulled into an underground parking area the lights came on. So it appears that it is the daytime dash running lights that are misfiring.

BTW: I am averaging a true 26mpg on the trip, 27mpg indicated.

Mystery Solved!!

I noticed a small bump where the bottom of the windshield meets the center of the dash. I assume this is a light sensor. Well, one "leg" of the pad of my GPS was resting on it. Once I moved the GPS pad all became well again. Egg on my face.

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[ciotog]

I don't know if this is coincidental or not, but last Saturday I washed my fairly new GT being careful not to get too much water down the hood vents. Then on Sunday my wife and I started out on a driving vacation. About 20 miles from home the dash lights on the Tach and Speedo went off for a bit, then came back on; then off for a bit, then back on. This went on for an hour or so. Then, all of the dash lights went off, including the center display between the Tach and Speedo. (Note that my headlights were off so these were just the dash running lights.)

When I opened the hood to see what might be happening I noticed that the passenger side hood vent is right above a fuse box. So I am wondering if some water got into the fuse box and shorted out a fuse, although it looked dry in there? When the lights finally came on after the umteenth time, I experimented and dimmed the display to almost nothing. This caused the lights to stay on for a longer period of time but they eventually went off again.

Has anyone else experienced this phenomena?

Update: On the third day, the lights didn't work. But I noticed that when I was cranking the engine the lights worked, and as soon as the engine started the lights went off. Also, when I pulled into an underground parking area the lights came on. So it appears that it is the daytime dash running lights that are misfiring.

BTW: I am averaging a true 26mpg on the trip, 27mpg indicated.

Mystery Solved!!

I noticed a small bump where the bottom of the windshield meets the center of the dash. I assume this is a light sensor. Well, one "leg" of the pad of my GPS was resting on it. Once I moved the GPS pad all became well again. Egg on my face.

Anyway to turn this off? It gets annoying.