Nissan Repair: 2000 Nissan Sentra Speedometer problem, nissan sentra, odometer reading

Question
Hi Von,

The speedometer on my 2000 Nissan Sentra stopped working recently. Before that, it froze occasionally, esp. when I was on highway. One day it froze at 80 mph and the pointer later fell to the right side of the gauge. My other gauges froze with the speedometer at first. But when the speedometer died eventually, the other gauges came back to work again. I drove with the dead speedometer for 2 days. Then the service engine light came on. I took it to a mechanic and was told that the whole instrument cluster need to be replaced, which may affect the odometer reading. So they suggest me to take it to a Nissan dealer.

My question is why the whole thing need to be replaced? The other gauges are working fine at the moment as far as I can tell. And usually how much would it cost to replace the instrument cluster at the dealer?

Answer
Wayne,

I would replace the cluster with a wrecking yard unit since yours is probably defective.  You could remove yours and clean the contacts and reinstall and try that.  But, it is probably the cluster that has failed.  A wrecking yard unit is cheaper than getting yours rebuilt.