Hi,

I apologize for the off-topic-ness of this, but my mother-in-law's 2001 Altima has an issue, and the few Altima sites I could find were no help. I knew that if I posted here, someone would likely have an idea.

Okay, she has a 2001 Altima, about 80,000 miles on the clock. Recently, after a few days of rain, she will be cruising along at highway speeds and the speedometer, odometer, tach - basically the whole instrument cluster - stops functioning. Then, after the car sits for a while and she starts up again, the dash works fine, but will after a time stope working at all.

Does anyone have ANY ideas as to what this might be, and how to fix it? Any ideas on cost? I hate to send her to the dealer in her area - I know the folks there and have never had any real love for them.

Thanks,

Jack

 

Sounds like a short in the cluster somewhere... I dont know as the Altima and Maxima are so different except engine/tranny. You may want to goto Auto Zone and see if there are any codes, if not then i would goto a dealership and see whats up. I would suggest bad cluster but you probably dont want to throw $200 at a Suggestion...

 

If it's the gauge cluster your screwed. It cost a pretty penny to have one of those replaced at the dealer. When I had mine replaced under warranty on my 02 max for the dim cel if i had to pay it would have cost me 900.00 dollars.....crazy......don't think the altima would cost that much but your probably looking at 400-600 dollars installed at dealer.

 

smith, I don't know how capable of a guy you are, but if you can, take the cluster out and look at the wiring harnesses in the back of the cluster. Methinks one of the harness connectors is loose.

 

Thanks for the input, fellas. I'm pretty handy, but haven't taken the cluster out of an Altima before. Are there any tips, or, better yet, are there any Altima groups like our dear Maxima.org?

Thanks,

Jack

 

The hardest part will probably finding the screws that take off the surround trim for the cluster(usually right under the top edge) If there aren't any screws carefully pry at the edges shoud pop right off. You should see the screws that hold the cluster on should be pretty smooth after that.

Good luck,Fred

 

I actually have taken the cluster out of an altima.... There are 3 screws at the bottom between the pedals and the steering column. Like the Maxima, you need to remove the steering column covering and then there will be 4 screws holding the cluster in... Remove those and BAM there she goes!

 

that's funny, IIRC I paid about $150-200 from DAVEB for a brand-new gauge cluster for my 00 Maxima, and that included the price of having it calibrated.

boondox...

you = = dealer

 

Check out Altimas.net.

Not even that much, since the 2001 was the last year of the 2nd Gen Altima, which only came with the KA24DE motor.

Good luck Jack, let us know what you find.