Hello there,

Sounds like you need to start with a battery charge. Not because it is bad, but dead. After you get that charged up check the following.

You did not give a time frame from when the dash went dark the battery went dead. I will assume you drove on a bit before it all died. If this all happened within a matter of seconds, this is most likely not the fix.

Your alternator would have quit charging when the dash lost power. There are two fuses to check, the first is fuse 8 on the fuse panel (at least that is the one in my 86 model). Check the back of the fuse box cover and look for Instrument Panel fuse. If that one is in good shape then you need to turn on the key and see if all the lights come on and the dash lights up. If the answer is no, the problem might be the little copper strip located at the very top of the speedometer, that is actually a fuse. If that is blown, has a bad contact or is loose, that will cause your symptoms. You can connect a wire between the two screw terminals and see if that lights everything back up. You will need to get that fixed very soon. Never a good idea to replace a fuse with a wire. That is a very common post back after changing the odometer gear by the way. People do not either put it back in place correctly or the pads have contact issues.

This might just get you up and running again after you get that battery charged back up.

Good Luck,

Paul