Strange electrical problems...

[xmichelle]

Hi Xers! I have a 2000 Nissan Xterra and the speedometer, thermometer, and tacometer guages keep dieing on me. The mileage display will show scriptic characters and the other 3 guages will just die. The fuel guage usually continues to work. I found postings on a controller that might need replaced and a harness coming from the engine that might be "crimped". Any other suggestions?

Possibly not related, but other problems:
My CD player has also started skipping. I cleaned it twice (store bought kit) with no improvement.

Both my headlight bulbs burned out in the past week. We are going to try to figure out how to change them tonight.

Also, I have been in the fast lane driving when my Xterra "lurched" and the ecelerator would not work. Luckily I did not get run over by a truck and made it to the slow lane. I turned her off and on again and we were fine. This has happened twice and might be a bad gas problem. I used fuel injector cleaner (and quit buying cheap gas) and it has not happened since.

Thanks and be nice - I'm new at this!
Michelle

[boodie]

Originally Posted by xmichelle

I have a 2000 Nissan Xterra and the speedometer, thermometer, and tacometer guages keep dieing on me. The mileage display will show scriptic characters and the other 3 guages will just die....My CD player has also started skipping...Also, I have been in the fast lane driving when my Xterra "lurched" and the ecelerator would not work...

Hmmmm...Nobody else piped up???

OK, Mike, here's my take - sounds like a bad ground for the cluster, or possibly a bad dimmer switch (or whatever the light switch on the left side of the dash is called) or switch ground. I had no temp/radio/AC display one time; the next time it started I was OK. On the advice of the guyz here, I twitched the dimmer switch a couple times, to see what that did. Didn't hurt, maybe it helped. They say it's a known problem (bad switch, I mean).

The lurching sounds like a clogged fuel filter. Not much fun to have an 18 wheeler in your RVM and no gas...

[xmichelle]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'm going to have to break down and take her in to be serviced. Have a great day!

[silverxglider]

Your gauge problem sounds like a circuit board in the dash needs to be replaced. I had the same problem at 30,000 miles, fixed under warranty.

[boodie]

Originally Posted by silverxglider

Your gauge problem sounds like a circuit board in the dash needs to be replaced. I had the same problem at 30,000 miles, fixed under warranty.

Do you recall which board??? I'm trying to amass a stock of spare parts...Just in case the Apocalypse comes and I no longer have a warranty...

[amirchel]

Originally Posted by boodie

Do you recall which board??? I'm trying to amass a stock of spare parts...Just in case the Apocalypse comes and I no longer have a warranty...

Also check the wiring harness where it passes between transmission and frame--I think on right (passenger) side. I had problems with intermittent gauge failure that started after I had clutch work done--they have to remove transmission (manual) and/or the engine. I read elsewhere that the harness gets pinched in that area if not routed and secured properly.

[totoro88]

Thank you to whoever posted that. I have been experiencing the same annoying problem for a while and nobody seems to have a clue. The lurching you write about seems related to the problem.

My Xterra has 80K miles.

This is what I have observed.

Problem occurs intermittently while driving at 60+ mph. Never below 60mph.

Electronic intruments freeze in wild poisitons, including LCD display. The rest of the electrical system (dimmer, lights, CDradio) continue working normally.

Usually the car will lurch when this happens. What is happening I suspect is that the clutch disengages automatically because of the mph/rpm information that is screwed up. I read that in the Xterra, the clutch has a sensor which will disengage it if the car is operating at an excessive mph/rpm regime.

Most of the time, I can continue driving normally after the lurch, albeit without instruments. Ocassionally though, the clutch will not re-engage and the car will coast without power. This is potentially very dangerous on the freeway. You will have to stop then and re-start.

If the car is turned off, the instruments will revert to normal after a brief interval.

If anyone here knows what is really causing this (I suspect it is an electrical problem limited to the instrument panel alone) please post!

Thanks!

[nissandoc]

printed circuit board on back of instument cluster is your problem,seen it many times before