Temp and RPM gauges went dead?

I have 2013 4x4 double cab with the 4.0l and auto that is having some weird issues I need to diagnose ASAP. This is a base model truck, not a TRD. Bear with me as this will be long, but I want to fully describe what led up to this and what problems I'm having.

To begin, I was out hunting the last few days on my deer lease. They are building a large pipeline through it at the moment, and we had heavy rain. This meant I had to slog through several hundred yards of thick red clay mud to get anywhere. There wasn't that much actual standing water, just tons of sticky mud. I was in 4 high and my traction control kicked in several times. After the first day I pressure washed loose large amounts of mud that was packed around my brakes, control arms, and CVs.

Now I received a winch as an early Christmas present, so I installed it after the first night. I never fully disconnected the battery, just removed the nuts on the connectors and attached the winch power cables.

The next day was just as bad, traveling through deep muddy ruts and dragging my UCAs a lot in the thick mud. Once again my traction control kicked in. After I was out of the mud a few hundred yards, my traction control lights and ABS lights kicked on. I also realized my Ultra Gauge was stuck in scanning and wouldn't display my gauges. The warning lights went off after the truck was turned off, but the Ultra Gauge remained stuck scanning.

I headed home today and once again washed a ton of mud stuck just about everywhere. An hour down the road the ABS and traction control lights kicked back on. I was close to home and I couldn't find anything going wrong with a visual inspection so I continued on. A mile from home I was pulling up to a red light when I watched my RPM gauge drop to 0. The truck was still running and as I pulled over my temp gauge went dead as well. The speedometer and fuel gauge continued to work. I did another visual inspection, then turned the truck off. All the gauges started working and the warning lights went away again. During all this my Ultra Gauge stayed scanning.

So any ideas? The only thing that's changed is I got the truck a little muddy, washed it a few times, added a winch, and yet now my truck's dash is going nuts. The winch isn't grounding out and is working fine, and other than the weird stuff with my gauges, warning lights and Ultra Gauge acting up everything seems to be working well. I'm currently unemployed so I'm hoping to avoid having to take the truck to the dealership.

 

Really?

Sounds a little scary.

Have you checked all of the fuses under the hood?
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Yes, all fuses seem fine and all the gauges that quit working began working again when I restarted the truck

 

Has anyone figured this out? I just drove back from Ontario California to Lubbock Texas 1300+ miles and the entire trip this was happening to me. Wandering if it’s just a faulty wiring issue....

 

I never had the problem again

 

So weird! Wish you were able to answer! Thanks again.

 

Just had this happen to me yesterday. Recently got my truck back from the autobody shop. New rad, panels, headlights. Got retrofitted HIDs professionally installed and then my truck was doing that. Disconnected the battery for a couple minutes when I got home and reconnected. Hasn't happened again yet. Drove a bunch today.