I have a 50th anniversary convertible with problem. I was on the turnpike yesterday here in Oklahoma, doing 80, when the instrument panel went dead. All of the gauges went to zero, the HUD had 2 horizontal dashes, and the clock display went dim. I thought the car had died, but it was still running strong. A few seconds later, everything came back up like I just turned the key on(all of the warning lights on the dash illuminated and then went out). The check engine light wasn't on and there were no faults on the DIC. I turned off everything non-essential and continued on. This sequence repeated about 5 or 6 times, with the period that the dash was dead being longer each time. One thing I noticed was when it came back on, my mpg average and my average speed had been reset, but nothing else. Also, the mileage on the odometer and the trip odometers were exactly the same as when the dash went dead, despite having traveled at 80 mph ( I used my GPS for a speedometer) for 20 minutes the last time it died. When I got home, I pulled the codes from the DIC they were all Historical and all U1096 (lost communication with IPC). This code showed up in the BCM, SDM, LDCM, RDCM, Radio, HVAC, and RFA. Does anyone have any idea where I can start looking for an answer to this?

 

Low voltage and poor connections can make the electronics in these cars do some strange things. Might want to start there.

 

Maybe a ground issue somewhere - just a guess.

Good luck getting it tracked down and fixed.