possible computer problems?

[mhr430]

I have a 3.1L '96 GA. I was on my way home today when the guages went crazy, at first they were all over the place finally ending up with the temp reading less than 100 deg., the tach. pegged at 8000 rpm, the speedo reading 0 mph while I was going about 25, and the fuel said I was empty 'though I'd just put 10 gal. in earlier today. Also, the "ETS off", "trac low" and coolant lights were on when they shouldn't have been. Something similar happened about 2 months ago whenI was on the freeway. At the time, I was going about 70 mph when the guages went crazy and the engine died. I restarted it but it happened again only seconds later. Since I had the stereo and everything else on, I thought the engine wasn'tgetting enough voltage so I turned everything off and restarted the engine. It's run great since then with no problems until today. Now I'm thinking the computer might be the cause but I don't want to change it if it's not the problem. Does anyone have any thoughts?

[xeroinfinity]

I dont think its a computer problem, thier would be other symptoms if so.

Those clusters are known to fail, if anything try and pick up a good used one from a salvage yard or maybe ebay.

Welcome to AF !

[mhr430]

What other symptoms would there be? Why did it die a couple of months ago and not this time?

[xeroinfinity]

Well first off it sounds like you battery was low or has bad connections. With the stereo and stuff on, it could hav drained the battery enough to not keep it running.

You can test your battery/charging system with a multimeter.
The battery should be 12.4volts at least with engine off. Should be around 13-14 volts when its running, if the alternator is going bad, the voltage while running will be low.

If the CPU is bad, most likly it wont run, or start period.

[mhr430]

'k, thanks.

[mhr430]

Help! I changed the instrument cluster and now it won't start. It looks like the anti-theft system has been activated. How do I fix this?