Odd behavior in our 2007 Nissan Frontier. Anyone know what’s going on?
A couple weeks ago, our truck started doing this weird thing. It beeps (sometimes), and the odometer goes to zeros (not really zeros, they are shorter–more like half of an eight) for a second, then it goes back to normal. It doesn’t seem to happen in any kind of pattern–it seems totally random.
We called the Nissan place and they had no idea what we were talking about. We thought there wasn’t much point in taking it in, as the behavior has been completely unpredictable. Tonight we were finally able to catch it on our camera.
video (http://www…Q3cVUWeBdY)
(it happens about 40 seconds in)
We plan to take the camera up to the dealership so they can see it happen, but I thought I’d see if anyone on here had experienced anything like this.
Since the speedometer needle doesn’t drop when this happens, I think you have a faulty odometer or communication error between the speedometer head and whichever computer module stores the vehicle’s overall mileage.
I think your video is going to cut through a lot of the bull they might otherwise give you about “we can’t reproduce the problem so we can’t fix it.” Let us know what happens.
My guess is that you have a bad ground or connection somewhere.
The odometer is what’s called a “light changing diode” (LCD) readout. The numbers are comprised of a collection of hash marks that when functioning properly create a number. Each of these hash marks is a polarized piece. When energized, it allows light to be absorbed (pass through, actually) and becomes “black”. Those pieces of numbers that you see are typical of an LCD malfunction from a weak voltage at the chip, usually from a bad connection or a bad ground.
I agree with NYBo about the video cutting through a lot of bull. Nice move.
An intermittent power source or bad ground can cause this. Good luck. The beeper says that it quit having power for a moment.