crazy tachometer and non-working odometer
 

Recently, the tachometer in my car has been going crazy. When I'm accelerating, it'll float with no relation to speed. While idling, it will also jump around. I can't tell you the specific RPMs, though. It's been doing this for as long as I remember and my dad told me that he was told it could be a sensor, even though several sensors have been replaced in the car a couple of months ago, including the O2 sensor.
Additionally, the odometer has never worked on the car for as long as I've had it. It has been forever stuck at 69k miles. I think the car has 145k based off a vehicle history report that noted the mileage in 2010. Prior to that, it looked like the odometer reading never changed, even after ~8 years! Not sure how they figured it out. When the car had a wreck back in 2007, it was hit on the front driver side, near the fuse box. some of the electrical components went haywire after that (radio, shift solenoid). My dad said it may be a short to the odometer and something about getting a new wire may fix it. what I want to know is whether or not a newer gauge cluster replacement will fix this or could it be another issue. my car also feels less "peppy" after getting gas from Shamrock. Don't know if its going there when I usually go to Shell or something else.
Anyway, too many questions. I always have questions about this car and the Org seems to be the place to get the best answers :)

i wish i could help my max odometer doesnt work but the rpms are perfect im going to keep an eye out on this so i can fix mines

it's an off and on occurrence, sometimes accompanied with minimal jerking at idle and sometimes not. additionally, the gas gauge may move 0.25 cm from its original starting point and return. nothing drastic, but something I noted. I was just wondering do i need to replace the whole cluster or look into something else. if it is the gauge cluster, can a 1998-99 one with the digital odometer work in a 1995 or should I stick with 1995 compatible clusters? it's an annoying thing to put up with. makes me want to punch the cluster right in the gauge faces.:mad:

will something like this work? I don't want to pay the money and it won't, but it will give me an excuse to swap for a SE gauge cluster. :p Just not sure what to do.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...ht_1934wt_1165

Test the wires coming out if the fuse box with a test light and make sure there hot.

Yes that guage cluster will work.

Maybe a replacement just might work. True I should check the fuses too, but when other electrical related items were gone caput, like radio and shift lock solenoid, and I thought it was the fuse that was messed up, it really was the actual item. Sucks because replacing the actual thing costs more than the fuse. This is the only white gauge I see on eBay. there really aren't alot of 1995-96 ones, mostly 1998-99.

Its not your cluster....its the vehicle speed sensor the part is 30 bucks and if youre automatic it goes right on top of the transmission and has a wiring harness that connects to it....been through this once before....

Also...additiinally the clusters from 97-99 im almost certain have different pigtails... if you got a 95 id suggest just replacing witha 95-96 cluster unless youre modding your car...

OK, that's what I thought. So, it could still be the VSS even if the speedometer isn't messed up. I browsed through the archives here and saw some people were talking about their speedometers not working, some along with the cruise control. I don't use my cruise control, so IDK, but the speedometer seems fine. The tachometer action has no relation to the activity of the car, though.