NO BUS message on dash gauge, dead gauge PLEASE HELP!

[blacksunshine]

I disassembled my dash to get to the a/c condensor. I put everything back together, and when I reconnected the battery, the alarm sounds like usual. BUt this time the alarm siren starts to fluctate tone, like its running out of juice. The keyless entry fails to work too. Then I hop in the car, and the actual door lock switches fail to work. And get this, they start to operate the rear winshield wiper. I try the windshield wiper switch, it doesn't work. SO I start my car, and it stalls. Start it again, and it starts and all the gauges come up. I hear a beep from the onboard computer and everything drops to zero. Then where the odometer is, it pops up "NO BUS". WHat the heck is going on??? Please help, I am afraid what I may have did. I didn't do any kind of electrical work, just removed necessary items to get the dash out. Blinkers don't work either. Everything else seems to work fine. Car runs fine.

[gtmud]

First, go back over EVERYTHING you did. Consentrating on the electrical connections. It sounds like you have a plug, or plugs swapped. Also make sure you didn't accidently damage any wiring when you reinstalled everything also.
Also what year Jeep are you working on?

[blacksunshine]

this is a 2001 cherokee. Horn, front wipers and windows working. Heater and a/c not working. Loud buzzing when I turn them on. I will disassemble and go over everything again. Seems like all the connections have their own unique plugs but its possible I crossed one without realizing they were identical. Does it sound like I could have hurt the cpu? Will the cpu be damaged if i crossed a connection?

[citizen@large]

I'm no computer guru or anything, but I can't imagine that you'd 'hurt your cpu' by swaping leads from different sources.

I say this b/c, IMO, I can't see the voltages coming from the wrong leads to the 'cpu' being that much less or greater than another one... (I could be way off on this), but that's how I see it...

I say crack open a sixer and have-at "gtmuds" prescribed sound advice!

[blacksunshine]

i just thought of something that I will have to try in the morning. I haven't completely secured the dash, and the bolts I still haven't put in are the 4 big bolts that bolt to the frame. There are a few wires grounded to the metal dash. Is it possible that because the dash is not bolted in to the frame right now, that the wires are not getting a proper ground? Would an incomplete ground cause the mentioned electrical switches to malfunction? I hope I'm on to something. Could it all be that simple. GOD i hope so.

[gtmud]

VERY possible, when you switch differant things on, the circiut is looking for a ground to complete the electrical path, and even though there is a high resistance, it will back feed through other components. ie. why wierd things are happening! Before you button everything up, take those wires and secure them to a good clean ground ( metal stud) and see what happens, if it fixes it then go on with finishing the install, if not, well your still at apoint to go over things with out too much hassle. Good luck.

[blacksunshine]

allelujia!!!!! That did it. I bolted up one side, some things worked, I bolted up the other side, more things worked. I have two more center bolts to go, but everything is starting to work!!! Thank god, I thought I royally fried something. I guess this is a lesson in grounding, without good grounds your electronics WILL go haywire. Its kind of weird how jeep grounds things, but at least i know now.