I have a 97 Nissan pickup base model 2.4L 5-speed. Great little truck with little trouble. Recently my speedometer has been cutting out and I discovered that if I slap the dash above the dash cluster the speedometer with start working again. I’ve removed the dash cluster to make sure the contacts are clean and appear to be so. Also as a side issue but similar, the temp gauge will stay on the cold side until i give the dash a small slap then works fine. Are these two issues related to the same problem or two seperate problems just similar in nature?
Check the ground circuit, and definitely check the board connections to those gauges. I had a similar problem with my 2000 Ford and the tachometer. The electrical connectors looked clean and good but the connection of the tachometer to the circuit board had corrosion.
My 95 Nissan pickup speedometer does the same thing. And a slap on the dash gets it working again.
I’m not going to worry about it as long as I can get it working again.
But once it stops working, then I’ll replace the instrument cluster.
Tester
Thank you BustedKnuckles!!! I took the cluster out again and rechecked everything. I found about 10 or so tiny screws that are attached to various points on the little circuit and some ARE attached to a ground symbol. The screws all seemed tight but For giggles I loosened all of them and retightened them just in case some corrosion had been present. Put everything back together and so far, (knock on wood), everything is working perfectly! Even my temp gauge is working with no problems. Tomorrow is the real test but today after your suggestion it’s been working great.
Even my check engine light has gone out and stayed out. This whole time I thought it was a different problem and wasn’t looking forward to that repair bill.