97Pearl

Ok, guys I need help. (I’d search, but as you know… )The car is a 1997 SE with the white gauge faces. This problem started about 2 weeks ago. Whenever the car goes above ~10 mph the speedo / odometer begins to go “tick….tick…tick… tick” As I accelerate, the ticking speeds up. At 60 mph it sounds like a grandfather clock inside the car. It’s extremely annoying. I’ve taken the cluster apart, pulled out the speedo unit and very carefully sprayed in some electronic cleaner that’s supposed to leave a thin film of lubrication. I’m guessing that the plastic (?) gears in behind the odometer have gotten dry and are binding as they turn. The ticking continues…

Has anyone else ever had this problem? What did you do to fix it? Please tell me that I’m not looking at a new gauge unit!

Any help would be apreciated!

sinewave

Try pressing the trip odometer reset button several times. Sometimes the reset mechanism binds up and doesnt't reseat properly.

Phoenix1911

Not sure about a 97 max, but on older cars the speedo cable would bind funny and cause the clicking sound that increases as your speed does... Push and pull on the cable, and check your connection at the tranny... Not sure how hard it would be to replace?

Sorry thats all I got

97Pearl

Sinewave,
Took the car for a drive at lunch... pressed the reset rod several times, no improvement.... I’m curious, does your reset button often stick? The rod moves freely, but maybe the part it strikes is seized… I will dismantle the gauge again tonight and try carefully prying/lubing the gears within the unit.

Phoenix1911,
Not sure about other years of Maximas, but on my 1997 there are three cables that connect to the back of the cluster. Each of them looks kinda like a printer cable except the contacts are on the outside if you get my illustration... There is no mechanical linkage to the cluster at all, only electrical.

Several auto wreckers have told me that the cluster for the 1997 is unique to the 1997. Does anyone know if the guts of the speedo/odometer are transferable between the 1995 to 1999 versions of the clusters?

I'm now thinking that I should just purchase a cluster from a different year, then swap the speedo guts...<sigh>

Any thoughts?

Phoenix1911

My only thoughts are....

...that sucks...

sorry, thats all I got

Depending on how into modding your Max you are. You could take this opportunity to build a custom Autometer gauge cluster? They have nice Speedos and Tacs!

sinewave

All 4th gen speedo's are electrically driven; they don't have mechanical cables. The '95 thru '97 are interchangable; they have analog odometers. In '98, they introduced the LED odometer that is being controlled by the ECM.

Are you getting accurate readings from the odometer? You might want to check it before you tear it apart again.