99 cherokee 4x4 electrical

i have a 99 cherokee sport that is haveing a problem with the instrument cluster going dead while i am driving. it may last 2 minutes or ten miles. there was a service bulletin that provided a patch connector to the cluster two years ago. it is now doing the same thing only worse. iam in a situation that i need to drive from va to ohio on 12\27.
do you think it is safe to drive. also anyone else having similar problems?

could be your head light switch, I had no dash lights and no park lights at all, when I checked for power at the instr. clus. fuse , there was none, replaced head light switch and everything was fine.

thanks LTD, but im not having trouble with the lights. the problem is the gauges drop to nothing and the check enging light and airbag light come on

im not a jeep expert but that sounds like theres either a wiring problem or a computer problem, you could try and disconnect the negative battery cable for a few minutes, that would wipe the computer and any codes stored

it sounds like whoever did the connector 2 years ago didnt do it quite right.you have to clean the oxidation off of the cluster terminals and use dielectric grease on the connector.otherwise the problem comes back.usually when it goes out if you hit the top off the dash you can get it to come back on.if this is the case then its probably that connector.i have seen people take the cluster out and then pop the connector out of the dash and put it back in the dash from the front instead of the back.then when the cluster is put back in it seems to make better contact.

thanks for all the replys. one thing i forgot is the code "nobus" appears on the odometer when this problem comes up. any help to anyone?

that is a symptom of that connector being bad.the ccd bus is the wires that connect all of the modules on the jeep so they can communicate with each other.its a purple and a white wire twisted together.kind of like a network.nobus means the cluster is not getting anything over the bus.when it does it ,hit the top of the dash and see what it does