So my gf and I were on our way back home tonight when the gauges decided to flip out. We were driving down a local highway with the cruise set to about 50mph when all of a sudden, the gauges slowly started freaking out. Here is a pic I took while we were driving along:




The cruise "set" light in the bottom right corner was continuously flashing the rest of the drive home and the low fuel light also came on (I just filled up the tank this afternoon). Also, we had been driving the car for awhile, so pretty much every gauge in the cluster was fubared. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Call DAVEB, FTW....

 

Here is what it looked like after restarting when we got home:

 

thats the fastest i've ever seen a max go

 

I had a similar issue with my 4th gen. Can't remerber the malfunctioning part, but will post when I do.

 

how about the highest RPM? thats gotta be at least 9 there.

 

That pic would make one awesome sig. Better put a watermark on it before someone steals it.

 

Your car is still slow...

 

I had a similar thing happen, it ended up being a bad alternater. Go figure.

 

9k rpm's you should be going faster. Or were you in 3rd gear??

 

3rd at 9k would not equal about 175

 

Ummm. he has an auto. 3rd is 1:1

 

Well, I just got back from taking her home....when I started it back up everything was working but the speedometer. So on the way back, I floored it on a back road, and at about 90, the speedometer clicked back into place and seems to be working fine again. Who knows.....

 

hahaha, i guess the speedo had to do a "sit up" huh? You had to go more than half the circle to catch the needle again.

 

OK, so a little update.

Since my last post, the problem has gradually gotten worse so today I decided to take the entire cluster apart since it's pretty much worthless anyway. I have yet to find anything of a clue but who knows. I talked to Dave B and a new cluster is $205, so I am praying that I can figure out the issue today. Here are some pics of the entire cluster taken apart:

 

something is wrong with the server. Instead on the pics I see those small "pictiger" banners.

 

I doubt it was the cluster. Sounds like possibly the alternator voltage regulator going nuts. Try starting the car and taking a voltage reading at the battery before doing anything else. Just a thought.

BTW: your car is slow. Only 170?

 

... can't see them either

 

I right clicked it and went to properties, copied the URL and posted it in my browser. I know, it's a long way to go....

 

still not 175, sorry.

also cant see the pics, but yes, like ^^^ said, probly not the cluster.

 

Were your headlights and other lights fluctuating during the gauge chaos? I hope you get the problem figured out soon, Lance.

 

so everyone else is just just letting this go to waste???
fine, i'll do it

so what was the gf doing? we all know why we use the cruise control at night when our girl is in the car

 

Nope, everything else electrical has been working just fine.

 

i had the same problem years ago in a 94 grand prix. for about 2-3 weeks the gauges were goin nuts, all the lights would flicker, the speedo would read 50 at stoplights, the rpms would go crazy. i didnt really care that car was a pos anyway it was my first car. finally after a couple weeks the alternator went out, and the mechanic explained to me that sometimes a failing alternator could cause weird things to happen in a car. my father also had a similar problem in a chevy where the radio would flicker on and off consistantly for about 2 weeks, then the alty went out. i would check your alternator if i were you.

 

The only time I had my cluster hose up on me was when my charging system was on the blink. I had an open diode in the alternator and it was fixed and all the problems stopped.

 

Well I went to AutoZone and had the battery system tested. Everything ran just fine (14.3 V for the entire test). The employee did pull a P0500 code -- speed sensor malfunction -- and DaveB said this is not possible since our cars receive the signal from the ABS or some such. The cluster does seem to be working much better after taking it apart and putting it back in though, all except the gas gauge which appears to be stuck at the very top.

 

I'm going to provide a link to a few diagrams since they would be to small to read if posted here.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2195944/2---bottom two pics
If you notice the speedo/tach/temp gauge/odo/and fuel gauge are all tied together inside a "unified meter control unit"...Unfortunately alldata doesn't show the printed circuit very well so this is all I have to go off of..
Since your not throwing a dtc for any of your other gauges, I'm going to guess the problem lies between your VSS (Wire # 15 red) and your gauge cluster, possibly after your cluster going to your ecm...
I couldn't tell for sure, but even though your odo wasn't working it looks as though the light for it was on?
EDITING: the VSS isn't a resistor like older vehicles. It's a pulse Generator.

Copied and pasted from alldata
Component Description
The vehicle speed sensor is installed in the transaxle. It contains a pulse generator which provides a vehicle speed signal to the speedometer. The speedometer then sends a signal to the ECM.


Malfunction is detected when the almost (0 MPH) signal from vehicle speed sensor is sent to ECM even when vehicle is being driven.


Is the problem with the other guages only occuring when the speedometer acts up or is the problem with the fuel/odo/etc always a problem?

Also from alldata ". Realize also that the most frequent cause of I/I (intermittent)occurrences is poor electrical connections. "
I would pull out the vss, clean it off, pull the ecm haness off and look for any loose wires or corrosion, clean as needed, and since you already pulled the gauge apart I'll guess you cleaned/checked all connections there and tehy are good.

 

Sorry, kind of stupid question here, does that mean I can replace my "stock" black one on my GXE and get a nice white one like most of you have? And if so, what about the milage on it?Thanks.