Hey guys, been a while since I've been here... but today I just noticed that my odometer is not rolling anymore... both the trip and the total...

sometimes if I push the reset stick a few times, the trip one would roll about a mile or so... and it seems to work if I am going downhill???

Suggestion as to where to start diagnosing this problem?

 

I don't know of any way to fix a broken odometer besides replacing the instrument cluster with salvage yard one...

 

You have the maximum special gauge: downhill surfing meter!

I would start shootin from the gauge, open and lubricate the number rolls mech with lithium spray (toothpick doses)

 

does the speedo work?

 

speedo works perfectly

I'm also low on gas... maybe if I fill it up it'll work again... *sigh* my max is weird. lol.

Or maybe I should just drive downhill from now on. both ways.

=)

 

I have exactly the same problem. Everything on the dash works except Odometer (Trip and total). No time to check it out (ok..ok.. thats a total cop out). I'd do what Wiking said - Lubricate and see if that works.


Would WD-40 work as a lubricant here ??? No clue what a lithium spray is.

 

check the plug in back of the gauge assy. and clean maybe

 

um.... my odometer is working again... came out to the car after work and it started rolling again when I drove... it was sitting in the sun for the whole day... sometimes my alarm starts working after the car sits in the sun too...

my poor wiring *sniff*...

 

I think you best bet would be taking the gauge cluster out and visually inspect it, and no WD-40 is not a lubricant, if anything, it's more of a cleaning/penetrating oil. Putting too much of that stuff on plastic(the odometer) will cause them to become brittle, or melt. and clean the connectors on the back, maybe it had oxidized over.

 

Lithium is an additive, read spray bottle ingredients. Relative New super stuff... Anything with very light oil should do, NOT! grease. Has to lubricate and stay, not to be sticky. Somethin which ol watchmaker would use...

 

As Wiking said, it's usually the gears on the odometer are gummed up with junk.
remove the cluster and carefull clean the gearing back there. often you'll find a tiny piece of sand or something stuck in the rollers.

clean them with canned air and maybe some alcohol and a q tip or toothpick. pretty small parts in there, so it's hard to do.. but clean them up and they'll work again usually.

 

I have the same problem for the last 3 years. The speedo works fine. I tried swapping the cluster and odometer worked for about 30 miles, than stopped again. I put my old one back in and the odometer worked for two miles, than stopped. I figured, it's not the odometer problem: must be the harness between the ECU and cluster, still waiting till I'll have time to jack the front, put it in gear and take an oscylloscope to it to find there the open circuit is.

 

Not necessarily: mine is mint clean, like new, rotates effortlessly. I tried the cleaning procedure described on some1's Z31 site and found no grit in the motor whatsoever. Like I said, even replacement cluster's odometer does not work, tho it works fine in the donor car where it stays now.

 

Strange. sounds like a speed sensor problem then...

 

Do that and pls post us a pic; another scope pic from the same signal near the odo. The problem has to be (?) a speed signal level just below the edge... still enough for speedo.

Is the sensor well seated, connector(s) clean?

 

Why? Does not the speed sensor only have 2 wires: signal and ground? If the signal reaches the speedometer, than it's there and nothing wrong with the sensor.

 

I have the same problem .. odometer works sometimes, and doesn't work other times.

 

So does all of this mean the mileage on a lot of 3rd G's is way off?

 

I went through 3 junkyard odometers before I got one that works. My original and the others all had the same problem. You have to take the odo assembly out of the gauge cluster to see it. The little cog on 1/10 mile wheel that turns the adjacent wheels was bent or broken off. Usual cause from resetting the trip odometer while moving.

 

Signal: If signal level is goes gradually low, one device dies after another. (Speedo/odo are two different devices in same box.) Signal level might be low because of sensor, wiring and/or bad contacts.

Odo:
Odo may be dying, and works intermittently before last kick. Or dirt accumulation, or needs some camel oil to run... With 2million miles I have never broken odo while zeroing on the move, but anythin can happen. Not std though...

customcracka: You'd be surprised how many ppl drive without speedo/odo or trim reading to get better price... Maxima gauge itself is highly reliable. Talk in here represents maybe 0,0001% of total max 'pop'.