Speedometer, tachometer, odometer not working

[corywelborn]

Over the weekend the gauges in my '99 stopped working, all except gas and temp. All the fuses are good and cruise control works. Is there anything else I can check or am I gonna have to take it to the dealer and spend a couple hundred dollars.

[Fishboy55]

Manybrews can probably confirm this off the top of his head, but You likely still have a fuse out. Check all of them, including the ones under the hood. Did you install aftermarket gauges or are these the stock ones that failed? I can tell you that if your gauge cluster blew out, you're looking at about $400 to replace the whole unit unless you can find a used one.

Chip

[djScript]

there's an auction going on at ebay if you end up needing to replace it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...item=1871905034 ('http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1871905034')

[pinoyesv6]

here's maybe a simple fix. remove the cluster and make sure its plugged in good...aftermarket guages wouldn't be the main cause of the problem just because well, the odometer doesn't work. the odometer will work even if the speedo and tach don't work.

[BlueESV6]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PinoyESV6)</div><div class='quotemain'>here's maybe a simple fix. remove the cluster and make sure its plugged in good...aftermarket guages wouldn't be the main cause of the problem just because well, the odometer doesn't work. the odometer will work even if the speedo and tach don't work.</div>

Yup, it sounds like something got unplugged on your gauges since so many things are all of a sudden not working. Did you hit a massive bump in your car? Have the guages been acting flaky up to then?

[corywelborn]

The only thing that happened before they went out was the battery died. I jumped it with my other vehicle and then noticed later that day the gauges were out. All the gauges are stock. I'll try checking over the fuses again.

[pinoyesv6]

hmmm interesting...how did u jump the car. maybe for some reason something was damaged by a power spike that coulda been caused by the technique u used to jump the car

[corywelborn]

I jumped it the way anybody else would I guess. Red clamps to positive, black to ground. Started the working vehicle and then started the galant. Did I miss something?

[pinoyesv6]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(corywelborn)</div><div class='quotemain'>I jumped it the way anybody else would I guess. Â*Red clamps to positive, black to ground. Â*Started the working vehicle and then started the galant. Â*Did I miss something?</div>

yea thats teh traditional old way of doing it. uhm if u notice any good tow truck or something they wouldn't use taht way. they would use either one of them booster pack that looks like a big battery pack with jumper cables on it or they use something like thru a cigarette lighter.

the problem with the old way on newer cars is that well, newer cars have ecu's and all these fancy electronics and well, doing it the old way is like hitting your car with a bolt of lighting. it can cause power spikes and these spikes can go into some dangerous levels and maybe even blow up some of your electronic components...

[jacuZZi]

Just Have Some Questions, Does anyone know if the toggle to reset the trip odometer is broken, can i replace just the toggle without replacing the whole gauges? and if i dont replace that toggle is there would be any problem with the car? Thanks.

[TJC]

I have to agree with everyone that the contact on the dimmer switch or the two main connectors to the cluster is intermittant. My speedometer acted up that way where it would go on and off too. I took the cluster out and reinstalled it jiggling the connectors (wire harnesses) and problem went away. The only other time I had weird cluster problems was from my O2 sensor wires shorting or something b/c I didn't do a good job extending them the first time; this also led to blowing out a fuse under the hood. If you need to replace fuses, just remember we have the mini ones.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jacuZZi)</div><div class='quotemain'>Just Have Some Questions, Does anyone know if the toggle to reset the trip odometer is broken, can i replace just the toggle without replacing the whole gauges? and if i dont replace that toggle is there would be any problem with the car? Â*Thanks.</div>

I don't know if you can just replace the toggle but wonder if that is even the source of the problem. Might be shorted gauge cluster or worse, ECU. Anyway, if it's JUST the odometer, there shouldn't be a problem as far as running. But is that the only problem? I hope all your warning lights in the cluster are at least working. That's the only way you know if something is wrong when the SES light gets tripped.

[jacuZZi]

I don't know if you can just replace the toggle but wonder if that is even the source of the problem. Might be shorted gauge cluster or worse, ECU. Anyway, if it's JUST the odometer, there shouldn't be a problem as far as running. But is that the only problem? I hope all your warning lights in the cluster are at least working. That's the only way you know if something is wrong when the SES light gets tripped.


I dont think anything is wrong, the only problem is cant reset to trip A and Trip B.[/quote]

So it is lighting up but you can't get it to reset to zero. Make sure you have it pushed in for 20 seconds or so to reset it. If it doesn't reset, then it's probably just the contact of the plastic pole for the odometer.

You can take the whole cluster apart and test just that reset switch out. I'm not sure it will get you closer to the answer but it's something to try.

[TJC]

I don't know if you can just replace the toggle but wonder if that is even the source of the problem. Might be shorted gauge cluster or worse, ECU. Anyway, if it's JUST the odometer, there shouldn't be a problem as far as running. But is that the only problem? I hope all your warning lights in the cluster are at least working. That's the only way you know if something is wrong when the SES light gets tripped.


I dont think anything is wrong, the only problem is cant reset to trip A and Trip B.[/quote]

So it is lighting up but you can't get it to reset to zero. Make sure you have it pushed in for 20 seconds or so to reset it. If it doesn't reset, then it's probably just the contact of the plastic pole for the odometer.

You can take the whole cluster apart and test just that reset switch out. I'm not sure it will get you closer to the answer but it's something to try.

[jacuZZi]

Its broke because the toggle just moved around.

[corywelborn]

Ok, so I finally took my gauges out to check all the connections. I unplugged both sides and then plugged them back in. When I turned the car on, everything was working. After 3 or 4 trips in the car, the gauges stopped working again. Any ideas?