hurleybob

This morning on way to work my tach suddenly jumped, then odometer, then the fuel and temp gauges went to off position.. thumping on console makes all four jump to arbitary settings. At times all four go to zero.
Cruse control also stopped working when this happened, otherwise everything appears to be working.
Any ideas what can cause this? Bad ground perhaps, but where do I start?
Anyone see this before? Any help appreciated.
Thanks, Bob

ajm8127

iTrader: (8)

Fuse 13? If the speedometer is not getting power, it cannot send the vehicle speed signal to the ASCD which would probably cause the cruise not to work.

hurleybob

Thanks ajm, on 30 mile drive home after work the gauges were fine, along with cruise control. Go figure. But I am sure that this issue will come back sometime down the road, intermittent things like this always do (hope not mid winter).

Anyway, I pulled fuse 13 and it looked fine. Once pulled the instruments DID behave similar to the problem I was having (all 4 gauges sat at zero and no cruise control). So perhaps this is very close to the problem and I have a bad voltage source wire/connector? Replaced fuse 13 with a spare just to be sure.

Do not know what to do next when this reoccurs. Any one see this before or have an idea?

Thanks, Bob

Bufflomike

Sounds like you found the problem and solved it. Way to go.

hurleybob

Thanks, and I would be happy if it was just an intermitten fuse, but I never heard of such a fuse! It could be the contacts needed the fuse to be reseated, but that is a stretch too.
More likely this will happen again and if so I will probably get into the instrument cluster and look for something lose/open.
Bob

BrianG121

I have the same problem but more often. I started it yesterday and fuel said full and temp was pinned at H, speedo was at 0 and Tach was at 0. I know it wasn't overheating i just started it and the fuel was half full. Out of frutration I smacked the dash and the temp went to C the Fuel went to E the speedo wet to 60 and the tach went to 3K. And were stuck there. I shut the car off and started it again....Nothing. So I drove it and it drove fine besides the instruments being all wackey. This morning everything worked great but while driving i hit a tiny bump in the road and whammo all jacked up again. WTF is going on can Any one help? Any one ever heard of this? I'm due for an inspection and life will suck without a car.

NHMAX603

iTrader: (1)

my tach used to work now it doesnt ocasionaly it likes to let me know its still there and it hops around for me no idea what happened

hurleybob

Ever find anything to resolve this? My gauges still go crazy, about once a week now during a long drive. After sitting overnight things are OK again. Loose connector ? But where? Bob

hurleybob

Bump. Still losing all 4 gauges at times, once it happens they only start to work again after car sits for an hour or so. So I am wondering if some component is pulling down the panel voltage.
Anyone have this issue before? Any advice on what to try?
Thanks.

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

I would suspect the ignition relay or the ignition switch. The ignition relay is next to the fuse box. The accessory relay is next to it and I think they are the same. You can try swapping them to see if the problem changes or goes away. See if anything else like turn signals, lights, heated seats or sunroof fails when the gauges go out.

You can also try jiggling your key/ignition switch when this happens and see if it makes any difference.

There is a chance that there is something wrong with your meter and gauge unit but I would eliminate the ignition swich and relay first. Those are easier and cheaper to replace.

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

I thought about it a bit. If the cause is the ignition switch or relay the rear window defogger should fail at the same time. If the defogger works when the gauges act up then it's likely something with your gauge unit.

hurleybob

I am back finally, took awhile to fail again, which appears to only happen after driving for 30 minutes. Storm here in NY kept me grounded.
Thanks for the advice. Yes the defogger was able to work, and I cannot see how this could be related to a relay or switch since it is so intermittent. The warning indicators like Slip and Seatbelts continue to work, so the cluster is getting 12 volts.
I plan to remove cluster to look for something loose. I will also have a used one ready as a replacement to try.
Bob

Fredward

iTrader: (3)

I had the same thing happen to me, switched it out with an SE-L cluster and it worked. Then the other day the right turn signal in the cluster stopped working, and now today both aren't working.

Decimus Meridias

iTrader: (5)

I second this. When my gauges (speedo more than anything) would randomly fail it turned out to be a bad relay under the dash next to the fuse panel. Relay's seem to cause intermittent problems that are hard to find/diagnose. Not sure if that's the problem for you, but I would swap/replace the blue relay(s) and see if that fixes it. Should be able to get some from the used parts section (maximajoe would be sure to have a bunch).

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

Relays and switches can lose connection intermittently.

The ignition relay is next to the fuse box. The accessory relay is next to it and I think they are the same. You can try swapping them to see if the problem changes or goes away. See if anything else like turn signals, lights, heated seats or sunroof fails when the gauges go out.

You can also try jiggling your key/ignition switch when this happens and see if it makes any difference. Have you tried this?

There is a chance that your gauge unit is at fault but these two things are easy to do and will eliminate those possible causes. If you have a spare gauge unit and can change it easily by all means do so but I would not be surprised if replacing the gauge unit does not fix the problem.

hurleybob

I see nothing from jiggling or tapping the ignition switch and key when this happens, or when it does not happen.
I am listening on the IGN relay, you guys could be correct, so I just installed a new one. Car has three, ACC at 1 o'clock, Blower at 5 o'clock, and IGN at 9 o'clock.
No other failures, just the gauges, and as I said already, cruse control. Everything else continues to work when the gauges go crazy.
So, will now drive around a few days and report back Its been hard to locate a '99 SE-L panel anyway (with limited SLIP indicator in the tach).
Thanks for all of your insight. Bob

Nopike

iTrader: (2)

Worth a try changing the ignition relay but but if the ignition switch or relay is faulty you should have other problems. Things like the defroster, turn signals and anything else that requires the ignition to be in the on position would also not work properly.
If that's not the case then it's more likely there is an issue with the gauge unit.

The FSM has some good diagnostic checks that can be done but if the problem is intermittent that may not be of much use.

DBear

If you haven't tried it yet, tighten all the little screws on the back of the cluster. And check the contacts. It has those little flexible contacts, so you have be careful cleaning them.

StartaFire89

have you replaced the gauge unit yet?

evo626

I would trace down the nearest ground and go from there. I popped a fuse on mine and then found it was due to an ground which had lost contact.

evo

hurleybob

Yes, it took awhile to fail again but did last week, dispite changing the ignition relay (was a last ditch effort anyway). So rather than play around with the old unit, I replaced it with one from a salvage yard yesterday. The problem is just too intermittent to diagnose so swapping parts was in order. (yes tightening the back screws might have helped as well.. or melting some of the solder *****, but removing and replacing the cluster unit is something I only wanted to do once).

No problem today during round trip to work, but I will not be convinced that its fixed until it runs OK for a couple of weeks.

Thanks for all the advice, I will get back with the result for the record. Hope it will be good news. Bob

4thgenftw

I have the speedo problem, will check fuse 13. however, my taillights and guages dont illuminate when i turn on my lights. any idea as to why?

96explorerxlt

Bob, any update on this issue? I am getting something very similar and was curious if a gauge cluster swap is needed?