clicking noise in dash?

[baja]

Hi guys, haven't been around here in a while, got to be spending too much time on-line etc.
Anyway,
I got my Grand G'neer on the road for the summer (finally) and now I remember that I've had a strange clicking noise in my dash for a while now, (years) that was really bugging me this weekend.
It sounds like a relay clicking or a small solenoid etc. that what ever is tripping it, is making intermittent contact like a loose wire jiggling over bumps or something. Imagine dragging a live bare wire along a metal surface making sparks etc, and how a relay or solenoid would react. The noise sounds like it is coming from behind the gage cluster, while sitting in the drivers seat.
What system in an 87 Grand Wagoneer would have a relay/solenoid that would be mounted behind the dash?
Everything seems to be working properly, (except the gas gage, it drops really fast from full) the gages don't jump, lights don't flicker etc. when the noise is happening. does it with the lights on or off. horn works with the ignition on along with the cigarette lighter.
At this point it is only a noisy relay that seems to be doing nothing?
Any ideas?
Thanks,
baja

[Lindel]

Does it doing only with the car moving, or also when it's sitting still?

Oh, and your gas gauge is working fine, these things really do get that kind of mileage...

[JeepBountyHunter]

Does your speedo needle look like it bounces?
Maybe a nest of rattlers....lol..

[YoungClayB]

If it only happens when you are moving, I'll bet its your speedometer cable. Reach up into the dash from below and you can unscrew the cable from the cluster...then pop your hood and pull it through the firewall. From there just pull the speedo cable from the housing and put lots of graphic based anti-seize lube on it....put it back together and you'll be all set.

[baja]

It's not the speedo cable, mine does make noise after the Jeep has been sitting a while, but quiets up down the road. The noise the speedo cable makes is constant cyclical noise related to vehicle speed.
My dash noise only happens when the Jeep is running, either going down the road or even like when slowing to a stop and sitting for a stop sign.
It is a random clicking that can be quite fast and very inconsistant, like a solenoid getting a poor contact. The clicking noise is about as loud as a computer keyboard, key click. Just enough to hear it over vehicle road noise.
What all solenoids/relays are there behind our dashes?

baja

[Lindel]

Not any that I can think of. It may be something that a PO added.

[710 Burner]

[quote=YoungClayB]...put lots of graphic based anti-seize lube on it.../quote]

WOW! Now that's a Freudian slip!

[CROCKETTBOONE]

There is no way I could ever hear a clicking noise under the dash. My 258 makes so much noise that I don't even use the radio. However if I did have a noise like that I would just turn up the volume of my radio and call it done.

[Heckofadeal]

Could the cruise control module have something inside it to make the noise. I've never had it apart but it does hook up to the speedometer cable at some point, i think under the hood though. It also has a vacuum switch IIRC plus power running to it.

Not to mention the duct tape that mounts it could have come loose letting it flop around under there? just a thought.

[babywag]

There are a couple relays behind the dash, when I parted an '86 & an '89 both of them had a few mounted behind the dash.

Unlikely you'd be able to get @ them easily without dropping the AC unit.
Even then doubt it would be easy to find them.

[baja]

Originally Posted by babywag

There are a couple relays behind the dash, when I parted an '86 & an '89 both of them had a few mounted behind the dash.

Unlikely you'd be able to get @ them easily without dropping the AC unit.
Even then doubt it would be easy to find them.

Any ideas what the relays were supposed to be for?

baja

[Wagonforever]

Originally Posted by baja

Any ideas what the relays were supposed to be for?

baja

Pretty sure one of them is for the wipers. I have a couple under the dash of my 86, I can hear it click everytime the wipers turn on. My 90 also had a random click from under the dash that sounded like a relay, seemed to do it much more in the summer so I assumed it was something to do with the A/C. Never really bothered me enough to track it down.

[baja]

Ya know, now that you mentioned yours does it too, in the summer...
I do hear it mostly, if not only, when I have the air conditioning on.
hmmm...so is it a bad thing to have a relay going bonkers, is it something I should try to cure? or just consider it another charactoristic of my Waggy?

baja

[jrlane]

Hope its not a Rattle Snake --- LOL

[shimniok]

If the relays are on the left side behind dash, that side of the AC comes off very easily.

I'd fix it ... I am not a big fan of ignoring electrical problems... too many bad things can happen.