gauges keep going dead

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

Hi, I too have an 2000 Altima GXE. I too am having the same problem. i have taken it a couple of dealers and they have never been able to reproduce it.
Did you have any luck in getting it resolved?


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

Hi smalode,

I have not found a fix for the gauge problem yet. My Altima has not show the problem for a while now.

I left out one point in the last post. You know when you start the car all the lights on the dash come on for a lamp test. One of these lights is "O/D OFF" light in the lower right. If the gauges are dead, when I turn off the car and then start it back up, this light blinks on and off several times. I have not counted the number of blinks yet. This must be some sort of error code. Have you noticed the same thing on your Altima?? The next time your gauges go dead try to count the number of blinks. I'll do the same.

Thanks and good luck!

Hi smalode again,

It was really hot here in NC the other day and I noticed my gauages and odometer were dead again. At a stoplight I turned off the engine and started the car again. I counted that the O/D OFF light blinks on 16 times after the initial bulb test. I don't know what that means yet but I'm thinking it has to tell us something.

I hope that helps some!





Hi smalode,

I have not found a fix for the gauge problem yet. My Altima has not show the problem for a while now.

I left out one point in the last post. You know when you start the car all the lights on the dash come on for a lamp test. One of these lights is "O/D OFF" light in the lower right. If the gauges are dead, when I turn off the car and then start it back up, this light blinks on and off several times. I have not counted the number of blinks yet. This must be some sort of error code. Have you noticed the same thing on your Altima?? The next time your gauges go dead try to count the number of blinks. I'll do the same.

Thanks and good luck!

Get you a chilton or haynes manual to find out what the code means

Hi there,

I am having the problems more often now-a-days and i noticed that it happens while i am driving in the speed range of 20-30 mph. I too counted the number of O/D blinks to 16. I called up the NISSAN support and they asked me to take it to a dealer and have the diagnostics test done and leave the vehicle for a couple of days with them to try to reproduce the problem. I don't have time to leave the vehicle with them so am still going on as is.

Till then

Hi smalode again,

It was really hot here in NC the other day and I noticed my gauages and odometer were dead again. At a stoplight I turned off the engine and started the car again. I counted that the O/D OFF light blinks on 16 times after the initial bulb test. I don't know what that means yet but I'm thinking it has to tell us something.

I hope that helps some!

Frontiers are also having this problem. My 2002 is doing the exact same thing and also the dealer can't reproduce it and is of no help otherwise. There's no consistent commonality between occurances that I can detect (eg. not raining everytime, not cold everytime). If anyone has made progress on this, would sure be glad to resolve this!

Frontiers are also having this problem. My 2002 is doing the exact same thing and also the dealer can't reproduce it and is of no help otherwise. There's no consistent commonality between occurances that I can detect (eg. not raining everytime, not cold everytime). If anyone has made progress on this, would sure be glad to resolve this!

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

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

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.

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.

Thanks for the update. It is getting warmer here in NC and it has been acting up more often. I have gotten the "vehicle speed sensor" code again also. It is good to know that the instrument cluster fixed your problem but I was afraid that would end up being the problem. I'm afraid to ask but I'll ask anyway.....how much did that operation cost? I think you have a pathfinder..right?

Thanks again!

I've got a 2000 Altima GXE that has been having this same problem. After finding this thread I called the parts counter at the local dealer, and they told me the problem was a thermal failure in one of the ICs (they didnt know which one) on the circuit board on the back of the cluster and could sell me just the board for about $120(cant remimber exactly what the price was but not as bad as I expected). I took my cluster apart and tried to get the board to fail using a heat gun and a can of freezit and could not, then put it all back together and it hasn't failed again in about 2 weeks. It was a few times a day before that. Best guess at this time is connectoritis on the back of the cluster.

Anyway, hope this info helps someone and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that mine stays working. I'm tired of using my GPS as a backup speedometer.

Thanks for the update 00altima. As you probably read, I had the "vehicle speed sensor" code a few months ago and I turned it off. I expected the gauges to really start failing once the hot weather got here. In the past the gauges seemed to fail more in hot weather. To my surprise they have been working fine so far and it has been pretty hot here is NC. I wondered myself if it was a connection problem but I have not had the time to take out the cluster like you did. From your experience it does seem like a connection problem. Maybe I just finally jigged my connection enough to fix it for now. I hope you got yours fixed for good. Thanks!



I've got a 2000 Altima GXE that has been having this same problem. After finding this thread I called the parts counter at the local dealer, and they told me the problem was a thermal failure in one of the ICs (they didnt know which one) on the circuit board on the back of the cluster and could sell me just the board for about $120(cant remimber exactly what the price was but not as bad as I expected). I took my cluster apart and tried to get the board to fail using a heat gun and a can of freezit and could not, then put it all back together and it hasn't failed again in about 2 weeks. It was a few times a day before that. Best guess at this time is connectoritis on the back of the cluster.

Anyway, hope this info helps someone and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that mine stays working. I'm tired of using my GPS as a backup speedometer.

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

Same problem here. I got pictures of the dead gauges while driving. It shows fuel is max, speed is max, rpm is zero, and temp is minimum. I can e-mail if someone needs, since I cannot post attachments.

My 2000 Altima just had this occur yesterday evening. Everything on the dash is out - speedometer, odometer, tachometer. Didn't notice any blinking light. I assumed it was a fuse out and was planning on checking them today. Now I'm worried it's something more serious. I had a Honda that had one of these mysterious electrical 'gremlins' and I eventually got rid of it because of it.

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?

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.

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

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?

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



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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.....

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

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