need help.. gauges stopped working & starts without clutch???

[kevo92xplorer]

hi, seems like all of a sudden some of my gauges (tach, volt gauge) stopped working, and now it will start up in gear even without the clutch pedal pushed in. a buddy of mine was testing some wires for the 4x4 recently (maybe we fried something) and also the truck has been not moving much in awhile because we're doing some body work to it.

so anyway i am not sure if these things are related... we were doing some welding on the rocker panels too.. maybe it's a coincidence, i don't know.

has anyone had a similar thing happen? we checked all of the fuses and everything seems fine with them. maybe there's a short somewhere, or the cluster just crapped out (but the spedometer works fine)..

any help, info, or advice would be greatly appreciated!
thanks!

 

[doonze]

Speedo is mechanical, not eletronic, so that won't he related. I would say there's a short somewhere, that has your clutch switch grounded at the least. Or maybe a ground came loose? I know know for sure, but I'd say the clutch switch works by grounding the loop when the cluth is pressed. So it would seem you have some wires grounded before there maybe? IDK, but a grounded wire could also explain your problem with the gauges.