I have a 98.5 2.8. I went out of the country for 2 weeks and left the car in the garage. When i came back and turned the car back on the whole dash lit up... I got a trunk open light, a blinking oil light, and an empty gas tank light. The guages also refuse to work: the speedometer and tach don't move, the oil temp is at zero and the engine temp goes all the way to the max. The odometer and trip comp dont work and the gas guage is at zero. The only thing that does work is the voltmeter (my guess is that its connected directly to the battery?). I checked the fuses by the door and they all seem to be fine. What could be the reason for all of this? The car sounds fine and i don't know if this is just the dash or something more serious.

The codes being thrown are:
*18010 (Low voltage to terminal 30) - i disconnected the battery and it came on - bs code
*16816 (Catalytic converter) - im replacing that but it has nothing to do with the problem.

Please help. I have to leave back to school in 3 days and have to sort this out asap

P.S. Also when i let go off the e-break the red brake light goes off momentarily but then starts blinking.

 

Did you have to jump your battery to get it to start when you got back? Strange things happen w/a discharged or nearly discharged battery. Did you try disconnecting the bat and reconnecting? This is not very common, so I think Auditech79 might be able to save the day if you dont feel like going insane with a multimeter.

 

The car started great when i got back. I bought it about a month ago, drove from chicago, drove around nyc and everything was fine. Now i came back and this happens. I disconnected and reconnected the battery - thus the 18010 code. If anyone has any ideas please share...