gauges keep going dead

[IH8SPM]

Originally Posted by inkscarab

Sorry for the late follow up... my instrument cluster was eventually replaced and the problem has not returned. I had also had the check engine light come on with the "vehicle speed sensor" code as well right before replacing the instrument cluster.

Hi
I have a 01 altima. I have the digital miliage display. When you replaced the cluster did they set the miles correctly for you?

[1999bravada]

I have a 1999 Olds Bravada and this happens occasionally... I think it is a bad ground wire somewhere in the guage cluster or harness, the dealership said to replace the cluster on mine as well (I didn't); it will fix the problem but it's a waste of money for just a potential ground wire problem.

[ramaks]

Originally Posted by Ainge

I also have a 2000 Altima experiencing the exact same problem. In addition, when the cruise control is on, it will die and one of the green lights will blink non-stop until the gauges pop back to life.

I've had my car at the dealer for two days and they are unable to re-create the problem. In addition, my Altima will hesitate during acceleration as if has lost electrical power, and then pop back on. It will also shut off without warning, usually at idle or going slowly around corners in city traffic. It never fails to restart. I'm thinking it must be electrical and not fuel related, but don't know for sure. My dealer/service techs must think I'm nuts because they can't get it to do anything wrong, but it happens all the time.

Anyone else??

Ainge

Hi!!
if your car hesitates during acceleration and dies during idle or slow speed..check two things
1.spark plugs/spark plug wires
2.It could be the distributor.My car has a similar problem where due to a bad distributor my car kept stalling at the lights (in P/N gears)

hope this helps
rks

[MeMrS]

Originally Posted by freeze

Hi all,

I have not checked on the forum in a while so sorry for the slow reply. It sounds like there are definitely several other vehicles out there with the problem. My problem seems worse when it is hot. I month or so ago my "service engine soon" light came on. The error code was from the "vehicle speed sensor". I had the code cleared and have not seen the "service engine soon" light come on again yet. However, I still have the dead guage problem. I have a friend of mine who owns a car service garage looking into it also but he has been unable to find out what 16 blinks on the "O/D OFF" light means. Gosh! It looks like that info should be somewhere!

I'll keep at it and post info if I find out anything else. Since it does not really affect the operation of the car it tends to be a low priority. It is just annoying....sometime I really would like to know how fast I'm going.

Thanks,
Mark

So I just bought a 2000 Pathfinder SE from a private seller, and have been having this exact same problem with the gauges (which the seller probably knew about but didn't tell me, of course). However, the "service engine soon" light didn't go on until recently. I took it to the shop, and they're charging me $235 to replace the "vehicle speed sensor." From what I've read on this forum, I'm not sure that's going to do the trick.

On a possibly related note--- I live in Colorado, and it seem the Pathfinder doesn't have great of power going up into the mountains. I pretty much have to floor it to get going 70+ mph going up steep and not-so-steep inclines. Since I've never driven a Pathfinder before this one, I'm not sure if that's just the way it is... and I have to deal with it. Anyone thoughts?

[Catboy]

I have the same car. Most of this is copied from another post that I made last week. When my 2000 GXE was brand new the dashboard would go haywire with the gauges all over the place and idiot lights lit up. It did this several times, and each time it happened it could be reset by shutting it off and starting up again. Of course, when my wife took it to the Nissan dealer (it was under warranty, otherwise dealer service is for suckers), low and behold, they couldn't find or see the problem. Apparently they didn't even look it up based on her description of what was going on. Finally, she took it one time when it happened and kept the car running so it didn't reset, and they agreed it was a problem. The ran it through the computer and Nissan USA had a service bulletin or some other document about this problem. The short end to a long story was that it was a defective wiring harness or relay and that it was a common problem with this year. They replaced it and 65000 miles later we haven't had another problem with this car (unless you include excessive tire wear from hard launches out of the stop light). Maybe your hazard lights are affected by this relay. Good luck.

Josh

Originally Posted by freeze

Hi All,

This is my first post so I hope I'm doing it right!

I have a 2000 Altima GXE. A couple of months ago the speedometer, Tach, and temp gauges and the LCD odometer went dead...just stopped working. The fuel gauge is fine. They eventually came back but have been going on and off now for the last couple of months. It might be worse when the car is hot but I have not proved that. The car runs fine....just the instruments act strange.

Has anyone else had this problem??? If so, how did you fix it?

Thanks for any help you can give.

Mark

[axelwheeler]

I've got a Nissan Altima GXE 2000

Problem: same as described; after driving for awhile, dash indicators go awry in various ways, all at once or one at a time.

Noticed: Plastic window in front of the dials gets very hot; almost hot enough to burn my hand, especially at the top.

Epiphany: That's where the dashboard light is! It gets too hot!

Solution: Turn down the brightness of the dashboard light. It's a little thumb-roller dial on the dash left of the steering collumn. I turn it down as far as possible as long as I can still see the indicators. Wait 20 minutes and the dials come back to life. And then you start crying about how much you spent trying to solve this problem.

Hope this helps!

[SerDaRat493]

okay i dunno who or if anyone still subscribes to this post but this is not just a problem with us few people this is a problem with many people from around our glorious country... my problem same as everyone else. (i havn't counted the od light blinks yet but will) for the speed sensor thing... $35 if you buy it and replace it yourself. the only cure that i have seen and heard of is replace the panel... but why should we pay out to replace an obvious problem a safety issue even... but if there is people still interested in resolving this issue... pm me and let me know i have a few numbers for the dept of transpo saftey issues and nissan saftey complaint department... and if we get enough going for us maybe nissan will foot the bill.

[waterfreak]

well i have sorta the same problem but with a twist....i thought my altinator was bad cus it wasnt charging and at the same time all my gauges stopped working exept my fuel and blinker lights...none of the red lights that come on at innitial start up are working either. by the way, i did replace my alt and no change. its a 95 gxe model....please any help would be great.

[itsaboyethan05]

I've had the same problem accept I've noticed that when the gauges go out the speedometer does not register miles. I've also noticed that my gas gauge sometimes works and sometimes doesn't and the temp. gauge sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. what I haven't seen in the forum is an answer.

[waterfreak]

well i found my problem....it was a fuse under the dash labled "electronic parts", thats waht through me off...i was looking for altinater kinda things.

[hellas]

Has anyone ever found a definitive answer to this problem??? My gauges started acting up after a tranny replacement... exactly as described in previous posts... sometimes the gauges just die, sometimes they freeze in place. sometimes they start working again as I am driving, sometimes not... they always start working again after the car has been off for a while. Is it an overheated chip??? Thanks.....

[vpstang]

same problem here...
2000 altima auto trans
temp, speedo, tach, and fuel go dead, and mileage stop displaying on the odometer. All other lights and backlighting works ....just the needles and odometer go dead...also got an SES light -- P0500 malfunct. speed sensor

any updates

[jserrano]

Originally Posted by vpstang

same problem here...
2000 altima auto trans
temp, speedo, tach, and fuel go dead, and mileage stop displaying on the odometer. All other lights and backlighting works ....just the needles and odometer go dead...also got an SES light -- P0500 malfunct. speed sensor

any updates

I provided some general information on this at,

http://www.nissanforums.com/1112607-post26.html